Ascension of the Second Apocalypse
by digemsmack
Summary: The Plan has been compromised. Because of Acnologia, Brain, Hades, and Mard Geer, Natsu experiences a dark life unlike anyone has ever known. Will his Humanity shine through? Or will all of Earth Land bow before this new monster. Smarter, Darker Natsu. Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters.
1. Plans Gone Awry

Ch 1: Plans Gone Awry

 **June 7th X777 in the middle of a clearing in Worth Woodsea:**

Worth Woodsea is a giant forest that stretches for miles in each direction, and due to the slightly eerie feeling that it gives off it is seldom visited. Because of that fact and how expansive it is, it is the ideal location to have a clandestine meeting. Which it just so happens to look like is about to go down in a clearing that also appears to have been made fairly recent. Currently standing in the clearing completely devoid of life is a dark skinned man with silver hair that stopped at his shoulders. His overall structure was that of a surprisingly fit individual for someone of his age, and his attire was that of a high ranking member in a branch of the Council that focused on research and the development of magic.

"You might as well show yourself." said the man as he looked to his right side with an unamused expression on his face.

"It would appear that coming here might actually not be a complete waste of my time like I initially thought it would be." replied a masculine voice from the direction that the first man was staring at. And seconds later a new figure emerged into the clearing, this one wasn't as big as the other man in the clearing but the aura currently coming off of him was one of someone with great power. He wore a gray cloak that completely covered the rest of his outfit at the moment, but what stood out the most about him was his horned helmet and long white beard that went down to his waist. Another thing that set him apart was the eyepatch covering his right eye, giving him a very intimidating overall appearance.

"And here I was starting to think that you might be the person that called me to this desolate forest." replied the first man as the two started to inspect each other.

"Interesting, so it would seem that neither of us are responsible for pulling the strings on this little meeting of ours. Something that I think might be a first for the both of us, but what I'm more interested in is why a member of the Council is here at all." he stated with a smug grin spread across his lips.

"Probably for the same reasons that one of the Council's most wanted dark mages is here as well, Hades." said the man as a smug grin of his own came over his face, while the one on Hades vanished after hearing that the man knew who he was.

"I truly doubt that, but then again, if that was true it would mean you really aren't the person that most people believe you to be." replied Hades as a smirk started to slowly come over his expression. "Which would mean you are like me and don't care if you're labeled as a dark mage so long as you get closer to the answers you're after." he finished as the other man started to chuckle.

"Nothing gets past you, Hades, does it? And your assessment of me was spot on; I'm only using the Council to meet my own ends. But now that you know of this, it turns our situation into what I initially thought it was." he responded while his magic started to rise.

"And that would be you trying to eliminate anyone that threatens to ruin what you've currently got going on." stated Hades as he continued to smirk at the other man while he too started to show off his magical prowess.

"Once again you hit the nail on the head, Hades, and seeing as you won't be making it out of here alive I might as well let you know who bested a man as notorious as yourself." he said as a crazed grin spread across his lips. "Most people refer to me as Brain, but judging by my estimation you will have the displeasure of meeting Zero." finished Brain as his magic level spiked even higher.

"We'll see about that." he replied as he also started to release more of his own power. But before either of them could make the first move a new oppressing aura washed over the two of them, causing the two men to turn towards this new player.

"Now don't stop the festivities just because of little old me." replied a lean man wearing a black coat with white cuffs and collar, that also had purple flame decals running along the edges and down the center of the sleeves.

"And who the hell are you?" asked Brain, who couldn't help but feel slightly inferior to this new individual with long black hair that was currently in a messy ponytail.

"You my lowly human are speaking to none other than Mard Geer, leader of Tartaros." he answered with a sly grin as the two men both unconsciously started to step away from him.

"What in the world is the Master of the strongest dark guild in Fiore doing here?" asked Hades, starting to wondering if it was really a good idea for him to only bring a few of guild his members with him.

"For the same reason that the two of you are here, I was asked to come." he replied, causing the other two mages to go wide eyed. Both of them not knowing a single person that should be able to get the Master of a guild rumored to be composed completely of demons to do as they were told.

"So you know the identity of person calling all of us here?" asked the Master of the up and coming dark guild, Grimoire Heart.

"Mard Geer does, but calling him a person isn't a hundred percent accurate." he answered as an explosion went off a few hundred yards away from their small group. And shortly after that the three of them could hear terrified screams that were accompanied by the usual sounds of mages getting into an altercation. "And it would seem that one or both of you were foolish and decided to not heed his warning about coming here alone." finished Mard Geer as another round of screams and explosions sounded off from a different location than before.

"Of course we weren't going to come to a secret meeting without a little extra security." argued Brain as he turned around from the two of them and looked like he was about to head back into the forest.

"Well then it's safe to say that all of them are dead, and if you head in there now you will only be joining them." stated Mard Geer as he took a seat on one of the stumps that still remained in the clearing.

"Those men out there were some of my best mages, they won't be done in by whoever organized this little gathering." refuted Hades as a confident smirk came over his face.

"The same can be said about my followers." said Brain as he sent a glare towards the other human in their little group.

"Considering that he is the one out there, not even my whole Guild and Mard Geer could do much to stop him." commented Mard Geer to the complete and utter shock of the other two.

"You've gotta be kidding me." stated Hades in sheer shock at hearing this.

"No human can be strong enough to take out your entire guild." pointed out Brain.

"Mard Geer already told you that he isn't human, and nor is he a demon like Mard Geer and the rest of Mard Geer's guild." he replied while turning towards his right side that now had the noises of someone approaching them. And out came a man with a mane of wild dark blue hair, wearing a black high collared cloak with a necklace made out of red claws hanging around his neck. As the new figure approached them they noticed his tan skin that also had weird blue markings on it, ones that gave him a very savage look. A look that was only more reinforced by the blood that was currently dripping off of his one exposed arm, that also had similar blue markings on it like the ones on his face and neck.

"If those were honestly the best that the two of you had, then I just did you both a huge favor by getting rid of them." stated the new addition to their small meeting. "I can tell that the two of you are thinking about attacking me right now, but all that will do is end up with both of you lying dead at my feet. Which is something I should do for neither of you listening to my order about coming here alone, but I'll let that slide since neither of you didn't know who I am." he finished with a sinister grin as he looked at the three specific beings that he wanted to meet with tonight.

"Honestly we still don't know who you are other than someone incredibly strong." replied Hades, who was upset about losing a group of mages he had high hopes for. But just looking at this new individual he could tell that he wouldn't last a second against him in combat, so he would listen to what the man called him here for.

"You haven't informed them yet Mard Geer?" asked the man while looking at the demon with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Mard Geer didn't know if that is what you wanted, so rather than risk incurring your wrath Mard Geer thought it would be in his best interest to remain quiet." answered the demon in a bored tone that shocked the other two and caused the new person to chuckle a little.

"You truly don't care what happens with the rest of the world so long as it doesn't interrupt your precious revival of your Master." he said with a little chuckle, causing the two humans to go wide eyed at finding out that Mard Geer wasn't the guild Master of Tartaros like they thought.

"You'd be correct Acnologia, so what exactly have you summoned us here for?" asked the demon in the same bored tone that he was using before. Not caring that the two mages with him almost had heart attacks after hearing who was supposedly standing before them.

"Let's just say that I've learned of a certain group of time traveling individuals that will be appearing soon. And one specific member of this group will play a big role in the future." he answered with an amused grin.

"Interesting, whoever this individual is must be extremely important for the Dragon of the Apocalypse to take notice of them." pointed out Mard Geer as he studied the dragon for any hint of deception, which he at the moment couldn't find any.

"That he is." he replied as his grin only got bigger and started to look more sinister.

"There's no way you're that monster." stated Brain as he pointed at Acnologia with an accusing finger.

"Sorry but I have to agree with him on this one, the legends say that Acnologia was the bringer of doom and all he did was destroy everything in his path." said Hades as he looked at Acnologia, who only seemed amused at hearing this. "Not to mention the whole thing about you standing here as a human or that he died with the rest of the dragons years ago." he finished while gesturing to Acnologia's current form.

"I did build up quite the reputation back then didn't I? And to think that all it takes for humans to assume you're dead is being inactive for more than a century." said Acnologia as he started to release his magic, which brought the other three individuals gathered there to their knees. And it also caused scales to start forming on Acnologia's arms and under his eyes, eyes that now were vertical slits that the others could only assume were ones of a dragon. "I normally would've change into my other form and tear you to shreds, but that would more than likely ruin my plan for the future." he finished as his magic power receded back to where the others could function properly.

"And what plan is that? Because if I remember correctly, you are someone that usually works alone and would never even bother with lowly humans." stated Mard Geer, not caring about the glares he was now receiving from the two humans in their group.

"You're correct Mard Geer, and that would also usually include your kind as well. But in order for my plan to work I need the help of you three to make a certain individual come to the realization that I did so many years ago." he replied with a smirk once again coming over his face that had a very predatory feel to it.

"Who is this certain individual and what do you want him to realize?" asked Hades, now having a new face to attach to what true power and fear is.

"He's the dragon slayer of the once proud Fire King Igneel." he answered, only to get blank stares from the two humans and an inquisitive eyebrow raised from the demon upon hearing this. "The dragon that once ruled over all other fire dragons and was one of the few to actually give me a decent fight the last time I saw him. Which was over four hundred years ago if I recall correctly, making what I have planned for his son even better." he explained with a little chuckle.

"And what do you want him to realize exactly?" asked Brain, who realized just like Hades had, that if he wanted to survive this he would have to do whatever Acnologia wanted him to.

"That humans and even demons are beneath him." replied Acnologia with a stony gaze sent their way.

"That may be true in your case Acnologia, but I highly doubt that whoever this person is will achieve the same feat that you have." stated Mard Geer as he stared down the dragon in human form.

"I expected as much from you Mard Geer, always thinking so highly of your kind when you and your guild only exist thanks to a lowly human as you like to call them." he said with a smirk as the demon's glare only intensified. "Which is why I'm sure that all of you will be intrigued to learn that the boy I've been referring to is associated with Zeref in some very shocking ways." he finished with an even bigger smirk than before, thanks to the shocked expressions he was now getting from his three guests.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Hades and Mard Geer at the same time.

"That is something that you'll learn about at a later date, so are the three of you ready to fall in line and do as I say?" he asked, taking notice of the slight hesitation they all had while thinking it over. "Because if you're not that's completely fine, but that would mean you're against me if you're not with me. And Mard Geer knows what I do to those that oppose me." he stated with a wicked grin spreading over his face.

"I'm in." stated Hades with a determined look on his face.

"As am I." replied Brain, who didn't look as thrilled as Hades with how this was all going down.

"If this boy truly is affiliated with Zeref then that would mean he might know more about our Master." said Mard Geer, causing Acnologia to let out a deep chuckle.

"I'm going to take that as you and your guild are in as well, and you have no idea how happy you'll eventually be." commented Acnologia with his grin going back to his usual one that was more sinister than wicked. "Now what I've got planned is fairly simple and should be really easy for one of you to accomplish. And that is making the boy have no love for humans, something that I'm sure that, that infuriating Igneel put into him during their training together." he explained, glad to see the three nodding that they could easily accomplish such a task.

"I'm fairly certain that I could accomplish such a feat if I'm allowed to experiment on him." stated Brain with a now excited glint in his eyes. "But he might not be the same physically afterwards." he said in an amused tone.

"Sounds like torture to Mard Geer, and I've got a few members in my guild that excel in that sort of thing." replied the demon in a bored tone, clearly not as thrilled about this aspect as Brain seemed to be.

"You're both idiots, if you torture him like that all it will do is turn him against us. Which is something that I assume you don't care about so long as he has a distaste for our kinds or at least sees us as inferior beings." said Hades while looking at Acnologia towards the end, who gave a nod of agreement. "And I'm also assuming that you want us to do more than torture this boy, so it would be advantageous if we could possibly focus his potential hatred towards a different affiliation other than dark guilds." he finished with a smug look coming over his mug.

"You'd be correct Hades, so do you have a solution to this problem of yours? Because as you already pointed out earlier I could truly care less if the boy despises and wants to kill all of you." replied the dragon with little smirk.

"I do, and that is where our friend Brain here, uses his connections to the Council to take the blame." he answered while gesturing over to his fellow human who looked slightly shocked by this. "Where he'll still be able to do all the experiments to the boy to his heart's content. But with the added bonus of the boy developing a hatred to the Council, which will most likely get him to come willingly to our side afterwards." he explained now having a smirk of his own.

"That will get him to most likely not care about humans and possibly think of them as inferiors if he makes it through all of it. But how are we going to accomplish the same thing for the demons?" asked Brain as he gestured toward the only demon in their group.

"Honestly I don't care what he thinks about your two kinds so long as he understands that you're both beneath him." replied Acnologia, enjoying that these three proud individuals were now doing his bidding. Something that he was sure that none of them have really done much of before, but considering their alternative it was a pretty easy decision for them.

"The only way for something like that to occur is for him to actually surpass us like you've done." answered Mard Geer in a confident tone.

"Good enough of a solution for me, because after his training with us he'll have easily accomplished that." he stated once again causing the other three to have shocked expressions on their faces.

"He's going to train with us?" asked Hades, still having a surprised look on his face.

"Well not with all of you since I don't see the purpose of him training with two different humans, and seeing as how Brain will be handling the first part of our plan I think you'll be in charge of his training right after that. Or are you not up to such a task, Hades?" he asked in a threatening tone while glaring at the man.

"No Sir, I'll definitely be able to teach him everything that he needs to know." stuttered out the Master of Grimoire Heart.

"Good, and after that he'll be under your care Mard Geer." he stated while turning to look at the demon.

"Mard Geer honestly doesn't know what you expect him to teach a human, but I'll do as you say." replied the Demon, once again in a bored tone even though he was extremely intrigued by this human that Acnologia took notice of.

"You'll be pleasantly surprised when you meet him." said the dragon as he turned away from all of them and started to head back into the forest.

"Wait, when is all of this going down?" asked Brain, which was something that the other two were also wondering.

"You're part Brain will be coming up shortly, but just to be safe I'll contact all of you the same way I did to bring you here today." replied Acnologia before disappearing from their view in the thick fog that settled around them during their little meeting.

"I really…" Brain started to say only for Mard Geer to cover his mouth. Something that Brain would have usually attacked him for, but looking at the fear in the demon's eyes as he looked in the direction that Acnologia disappeared into caused him to remain quiet. So for the next few minutes the three of them stood there in complete silence, until Mard Geer finally let out a sigh of relief and removed his hands from Brain's mouth.

"I should fucking kill you for that." he growled out.

"Like you even could, and you should be thanking Mard Geer from stopping you from saying something that would've gotten yourself killed." replied the demon as he went back to the spot that he was sitting at for most of their meeting with Acnologia.

"How so?" asked Hades, wondering why the demon was so terrified even after Acnologia left.

"You two don't know how good of senses he and his kind have, even while in human form. He could easily hear us from a mile away while in this desolate forest." he explained.

"His kind, you're making it sound as if he isn't a dragon." stated Brain, who just like Hades was now interested and wanted to learn more about the being telling them what to do.

"That's because he actually isn't a true dragon, he is a dragon slayer turned dragon. Which it would appear is his intentions for the son of Igneel." he replied, wondering what else could be going on that Acnologia knows about. Because just another dragon slayer alone wouldn't be enough to pique his interest like it currently was, when Acnologia would usually just destroy them like he did so many years ago.

"Interesting, I was thrilled to have a new test subject with a Lost Magic. But now you're telling me that he has the potential to be like Acnologia, that just makes me even more excited." stated Brain as his face lit up as he started to think about all of the tests he'd have to try on the dragon slayer once he got him.

"I'm also extremely intrigued, but shouldn't we be concerned about another Acnologia being created?" asked Hades as he looked at the two of them.

"Not really." replied Mard Geer as he traced the letters on the front cover of the book he had been holding this whole time.

"And why the hell not? I don't know about you two but I would prefer to not be under the thumb of that Monster or possibly someone like him later on." he stated, getting a nod of agreement from his fellow human that wanted to know why the demon was so calm.

"Because first off, Acnologia will most likely completely forget about the two of you after you've served your purpose. And secondly, you don't need to be concerned about two Acnologias terrorizing the world because he is most likely training this new dragon slayer to become a worthy opponent for him. Meaning that once they have their inevitable fight, only one of them will be left standing afterwards." explained Mard Geer, but it seemed to not comfort the other two at all.

"I could definitely go for something more reassuring than most likely." said Brain as he tried to come up with a solution to their current predicament.

"I have to agree with him on that one." stated Hades with a prominent frown as he tried to come up with a solution as well.

"Then what would the two of you say to forming an Alliance?" he asked with a sly grin spread across his face.

"An Alliance to do what?" asked Brain with an eyebrow raised.

"To the rest of the world, and more specifically Acnologia, it would be nothing more than a non-aggression pact. I stay out of your business so long as you stay out of mine, something that I'm sure the two of you can see the benefits in. But the real purpose of this little Alliance of ours would be to dispose of Acnologia if he or this new dragon slayer decides to turn on us." he answered with a stern look sent both of their ways.

"That doesn't sound like too bad of an idea, but why don't we just attack him before he has the chance to come after us?" Brain asked back with a crazed grin making its way across his face.

"Because as we are now that would be nothing more than suicide for all of us." answered Hades with a thoughtful expression. "Just look at what he did to the mages that we both brought." he said while gesturing to the forest that they knew contained the dead bodies of everyone that they brought with them. "But if we rebuild our forces over the next few years we might be able to actually take down a monster like him. Especially if we can get this new dragon slayer to side with us." he finished with a grin spread across his lips.

"That is exactly what I was thinking, but we can't let anyone else know of our plans or we're as good as dead. And that especially goes for the son of Igneel, since he'll probably be back with Acnologia before our forces are strong enough to even fend him off." replied Mard Geer still having a stern expression on his face.

"True, but that doesn't mean we can't start laying the groundwork for him coming over to our side eventually." pointed out Hades with a small smile as he already had a certain individual in mind for such a task.

"Considering that most of my followers were just taken out I'll probably be working on my newer recruits and my other research. So I'll be leaving all of that to the two of you since I also won't be directly interacting with the boy until who knows when." stated Brain with a surprisingly thoughtful expression.

"That would probably be for the best since we don't want to raise Acnologia's suspicion of us more than it already will be after he finds out about our little Alliance." said the demon as he got off of the stump he was using as a chair.

"Indeed, but so long as we stick with the non-aggression pact that we talked about he shouldn't become too suspicious of us." replied Hades as he looked at his two new allies.

"So what are we going to call this little Alliance of ours?" asked Brain, causing the three of them to sit there in silence for a while as they tried to come up with one.

"I've got it, the Balam Alliance!" said Hades with a little smirk. "Because after today we're going to become the three heads of the underworld." he explained.

"That seems rather appropriate." stated the other human of their group.

"In more ways than you know." chuckled Mard Geer, since he was a demon just like the one that they are now using as their alliance's name.

"With that settled I think it's time for me to head out." declared Hades as he turned away from them and headed in the direction that he came from when they all first met up.

"To think that today ended with me having a freaking alliance between two dark guilds, one that is still rumored to be completely full of demons." said Brain with a little chuckle as he too started to leave the clearing.

"Seeing as how we're now all allies, I can tell you that they aren't just rumors." replied Mard Geer as he watched the two humans leave him all alone in the clearing. "Now the real question is what are the two of you going to try and do to get the upper hand in this alliance of ours?" he asked himself out loud as a smirk spread across his lips. "The easiest way would be getting this new dragon slayer to join up with one of our guilds, but I'm fairly certain that Acnologia will make that almost impossible." he thought to himself as he slowly headed into the fog just like the rest of them.

 **July 7th X777 in a cave in the middle of nowhere:**

In said cave sprawled out on the floor was a young boy wearing only tattered pants and a white muffler wrapped around his neck. But the thing that stood out the most about him was his pink hair that stuck out like a sore thumb. This boy was Natsu Dragneel, the same dragon slayer that was the center of the discussion that took place a month ago in the middle of Worth Woodsea. And he was currently letting out a yawn, signaling that he was finally getting a start to his day.

"Igneel." he mumbled while rubbing his eyes. "What are we going to have for breakfast?" he asked while getting out one final big yawn. And for the next few seconds he continued on his slow process of waking up, but after getting absolutely no response from said dragon he was now wide awake.

"Igneel!" he shouted out in anger. "Where are you, you overgrown lizard!?" he shouted out, knowing that it usually got his dad angry at him. But once again there was absolutely no response, which would have caused Natsu to start panicking if something similar to this hadn't happened a few times before.

"He probably just went hunting." he said to himself with a confident smile spread across his adorable little face. "I better start training so he actually lets me have whatever he caught." he stated before going to the exit of the cave and started to go through his regular morning regimen.

A routine that first consisted of him going through all of his fighting stances slowly, which would have looked like someone doing a weird type of yoga if someone was watching him. After that he did them all over again but in a completely different order and a whole lot faster, making it look as if he was fighting an imaginary enemy. Once he finished up with both of those Natsu then took off down the mountain with everything he got, jumping over and under the terrain with such skill and agility that you never would have guessed that he was only just a young teen. This brought the pink haired boy to a pond where he would usually start swimming and finish up with catching some fish that he would eat without telling his father.

But before he started that Natsu couldn't ignore the odd feeling he got while coming down the mountain, a feeling that everything was ever so slightly off from the previous day. Such as all of the trees being bigger or completely gone from where they once stood, all of which he attributed to his lack of ever really concentrating on such boring things. Something he definitely couldn't say about what he was now looking at on the far side of pond, which was more of a lake now, given that the pond was now at least one hundred times bigger than it once was. On the other side of a lake was a cabin that didn't used to be there yesterday when he was last here.

"I wonder if they have any tasty food that I haven't tried yet?" he asked himself with a big grin. That he quickly lost when he remembered Igneel telling him that he wasn't supposed to interact with other humans until the time was right. And when he asked the dragon what he meant by that the only response that he would ever get was that he would know when that time was. So with a little shrug of his shoulders Natsu went back to his regular routine, making a note to ask Igneel about the new cabin that sprung up overnight.

After he finished eating the fish that he caught and cooked with a small fire that he created, it was now around noon since the sun was in the middle of the sky. Seeing that if he didn't hurry he would be late for his first lesson of the day with father, Natsu hurried back up the mountain. Once again showing off how skilled he was at traversing a treacherous terrain that most people wouldn't be able to climb if given a few hours to do so, something he was capable of doing in less than a single hour.

"Igneel, where in the world were you?" he asked while jumping up to the ledge that led to the cave that the two of them considered their home for the past few months. But once again the poor little boy was met with only the sound of his own voice echoing throughout the cave that went deep into the mountains. They went so far that even with all of his exploring of them he still hadn't found the ends of all the tunnels that went everywhere like a spider web.

"Igneel, this isn't funny anymore." he said with a pout coming to his face, now getting slightly worried since he can't remember the last time he went this long without seeing his father. "Fine Igneel, I'll go back to training!" he shouted out angrily as he tried to spot the large red dragon. "But when I finally see you you're going to get it!" he declared while shaking a fist in the air before heading out of the cave again.

Natsu couldn't help but feel a little worried that Igneel still hadn't shown himself to him at all today, but he decided to focus on the rest of his training that he could accomplish without the help of the dragon. That meant doing sit ups until he physically couldn't anymore, which was more than most in shape full grown adults could do. After that it was doing the same thing with pushups and finishing it off with running laps in a nearby meadow until he collapsed to the ground.

While lying in the meadow he was once again seeing something that he never recalled seeing during any of the other times training there. Which was a salmon flower that was the exact shade of his own hair; this caused the little boy to have a huge smile spread across his face as he picked one of them. Intent on showing his father that his hair wasn't that odd since a flower shared it with him, while on the way up Natsu realized that maybe showing Igneel this flower might not be his best idea ever. Because he had the strange feeling that the dragon would only start laughing at him and say how does a pink flower prove his hair is a manly color like he always claimed it to be. But by this time he was already at the cave entrance once again, so with a huge smile spread across his face he once again entered hoping to find his father waiting for him.

The first thing Natsu did after entering the cave for the second time that day was letting the flower fall unceremoniously to the ground, once again finding himself all alone. He started to have a slight panic attack after realizing this; which was the second time in his short life that he was abandoned with absolutely no explanation whatsoever. This in turn caused him to fall to his knees and start crying openly, not caring that someone might hear or see him. Something that he actually would've been okay with, since it would have meant that he wouldn't be alone anymore.

After crying for a few more minutes he did a complete one eighty and became extremely upset with his foster father. So much so that he started to use his magic and destroy anything that he set his eyes on, which wasn't anything more than large rocks and pillars that were scattered throughout the cave. He continued to do that until he completely exhausted himself out and curled up into a ball and fell asleep while sobbing to himself, hoping that Igneel would be there once he woke back up.

Unfortunately for Natsu that dream of his was dashed to bits as soon as his eyes opened the next morning. But he was determined to not let that keep him down, so he did what he did yesterday and went about his usual training routine. Although he went at it even harder than normal, mainly to keep his mind off of the thought that Igneel might have abandoned him. A thought that kept coming back to him, but only for a second since he still had faith that his father wouldn't do that to him. And Natsu held onto that faith longer than most kids his age would have, which just showed how stubborn the pink haired boy could be when he was determined.

 **July 14th X777 with Natsu Dragneel:**

It has now been a full week without him seeing the slightest sign of his foster parent, and even Natsu had to start admitting that he probably wasn't coming back for him. But being the stubborn kid that he is, Natsu came to the decision that something must be preventing Igneel from coming back to him. And if that was indeed the case then the only logical thing for him to do is go out and find his father and get rid of whatever is stopping them from being together.

"I'm going to find you Igneel, and you better have a good reason for leaving me like you did." declared the young dragon slayer after finishing his morning regimen and eating enough fish to last for the rest of the day. And since he was currently at the lake, looking over at the cabin on the other side, he decided right then and there that this must have been what Igneel was talking about when he said that he would know when it was okay to go and talk with other humans.

As he casually strolled around the lake Natsu picked up on the sounds of kids around his age playing together. This of course got him excited since he never really interacted with anyone other than Igneel and the other wildlife that wasn't afraid of him or the giant red dragon. Which honestly wasn't too many creatures for obvious reasons, but the ones that did became friends of the pink haired dragon slayer as much as animals could. That was just another thing that bothered him over the past week since he didn't see any of them during that, but none of that mattered right now since he was going to finally get to interact with other kids.

This excitement of his caused Natsu to not notice the presence of an extremely strong individual that was coming up behind him. But as soon as he did it was too late for him and his vision faded to black, thanks to a swift strike to the back of his neck. And before he could even hit the ground his assailant picked him up, revealing it to be none other than Acnologia.

"To think that you would be the last one that I checked on of all the little dragon slayers sent to this time." said Acnologia as he threw the boy carelessly over his shoulder. "And did those old fools really think that a bunch of snot nosed brats could actually take me out? I honestly should have killed all of them until I found you, but who knows, maybe they will prove to be entertaining later on and actually put up a fight? If not for me than they should at least be fun for you to kill once you're older." he stated with a grin as he walked past the cabin Natsu was heading to. And the aura he naturally gave off caused all of the children playing outside to run back to their parents, too scared to do anything else. All of the kids hiding behind them as they watched Acnologia walk off into the distance with Natsu slung over his right shoulder.

 **July 16th at an unknown location in the early morning:**

"What the hell happened?" asked Natsu as he opened his eyes and started to rub the back of his neck. If felt like he had been hit a few times by Igneel when he was upset with him and didn't want to deal with the hyperactive dragon slayer.

"You've been passed out for a while." replied an unknown voice. Causing Natsu to jump to his feet and get into a fighting position as his flames coated both of his small fists.

"Who are you?" he asked while looking at a young man wearing glasses calmly sitting on the ground with his back against a tree. The man was eating an apple while completely ignoring the fact that Natsu's fists were on fire and looked like he was ready to fight him.

"Just a fellow traveler who happened to come across a boy passed out in the woods and decided to stay with him until he woke up." answered the stranger as he tossed the core of his apple away and proceeded to start cutting slices out of a different one, eating them as he did.

"That's not a name." he declared while glaring at the man. Taking in the outfit that he was currently wearing, which was a garish one at that, composed of robes and shirts that made him look like some sort of priest. Especially because of the hat and weird symbol that was proudly displayed on the front of the outer layer.

"Indeed it isn't little boy, so why don't we have a proper introduction?" asked the stranger while offering Natsu a slice of his apple, which he refused while having a confused expression coming over his face.

"What's an introduction?" he finally asked as the man finished eating his apple.

"It's how people greet each other for the first time, it's where you learn each other's name." replied the man as he got up and started to dust himself off.

"Oh, I guess we could do that. Hi I'm Natsu!" he replied with a bright smile that was reciprocated by the stranger.

"Hi Natsu, it's a pleasure to meet you and you can call me Lahar." said the young man now identified as Lahar as he held out his hand for Natsu to shake. Which the young boy did cautiously, thinking that it still might be some sort of trap. But after seeing that it wasn't Lahar could see him lighten up and no longer look ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Can I ask you a few questions Lahar?" asked Natsu after they finished their handshake that he thought felt odd and didn't really know what he was doing.

"Go right ahead." replied Lahar as he started to walk on the path heading through the woods only a few feet away from where they used to be at.

"What's with that weird stuff you're wearing?" he asked while gesturing to Lahar's Rune Knight Uniform.

"Oh this it's just the outfit that I have to wear for my job. Have you honestly never seen a Rune Knight before?" Lahar asked Natsu back with a slightly stunned expression coming over his visage.

"Nope, I've only really spent time with my dad and some of the other animals that weren't afraid of him." replied Natsu with a bright smile as he started to walk with the Rune Knight.

"And where exactly is your father?" he asked with what some might call a concerned expression.

"I don't know." answered Natsu as his head dropped and a frown spread across his face. "But that's why I'm now out looking for him." he declared with a determined glint in the back of his eye.

"What's his name and what does he look like? Maybe I can help you find him." asked the Rune Knight, wondering how someone as young as Natsu could already be so determined to have a look like he just saw.

"His name is Igneel and he's a giant red dragon!" he replied once again having a huge toothy grin flashed Lahar's way. Who was slightly shocked to hear how certain Natsu was about all of this, but that was to be expected when considering the magic that he possesses.

"I actually saw a red dragon fly past not too long ago." stated Lahar, who now felt slightly conflicted upon seeing how excited the little pink haired boy became after hearing this.

"You did? Which way did he go? If I hurry I might be able to catch up to him." rambled off the young dragon slayer before taking off without even waiting for an answer.

"You're going the wrong way!" shouted Lahar before Natsu could disappear on him.

"Oops, so which way did you see him flying?" he asked now with a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his head.

"This way, and if you want I can show you since I'm actually heading that way myself." answered Lahar, once again feeling a little queasy when Natsu started to thank him over and over again. "That's enough Natsu, I can't promise you that once we get there that you'll find him." he finally said, hoping that it might prepare the boy for there to be no signs of the dragon once they got to his designated meeting spot.

"That won't be a problem if he actually passed by recently." stated Natsu with a small as he stopped jumping around in joy.

"And why is that exactly?" he asked, honestly curious as to how Natsu was so sure of it not being a problem.

"Because of my nose, if Igneel did go past here than I should be able to pick up his scent." answered Natsu, not noticing the shocked look he was receiving from Lahar at the moment.

"Your nose is that good?" he asked skeptically.

"Yep, I never forget a scent and can usually track one down from a few miles away." replied Natsu proudly. "Well actually so long as it's not raining that is, if it's raining then I can only track a scent from just a mile away. Wait a minute, why haven't I been able to smell Igneel's scent at all since he left me?" he asked now coming to a stop and scratching his chin. This caused Lahar to stop as well, making him also slightly nervous since it seemed like the kid might be finally realizing that something was a little off.

"Maybe this is some sort of test." suggested Lahar with a nervous smile as Natsu turned to look at him with a thoughtful expression. Only for his thoughtful look to change into his big toothy grin, the little boy then turned away and started to walk in the direction that they were before.

"Why didn't I realize that sooner, of course this is one of his tests." he said with a little chuckle, feeling a slight sense of relief wash over him at finally figuring out what was going on. Not noticing the conflicted look Lahar was giving the back of his head at the moment.

 **At dusk:**

"Are we there yet Lahar?" asked Natsu in a bored tone as they continued to walk up into a small mountain range. That they have been pretty much been walking on since Lahar told him that he saw a red dragon flying through the sky.

"We're almost there Natsu." replied Lahar from up front, no longer being able to look at the boy in the face. He was now finding it really hard to believe that this kid was a threat to the Kingdom and also the Magical World as well. Not knowing that his actions today were ones that were in fact the beginning of a certain string of events that turned Natsu into what he thought he was preventing.

"You've said that for the last two hours." whined Natsu, who didn't mind walking so long as he could preoccupy his mind with something to at least look at. But the current mountain range they were going through had nothing to offer him after the novelty of playing in the snow wore off on him.

"I think this is where he should have landed." he said while starting to look around for the other Rune Knights that were supposed to help him take in this boy for questioning.

"Are you sure, Lahar, because I don't smell him? All I smell is a few humans and other wildlife." stated Natsu with a confused expression, only for his ears to start twitching as he thought he heard something from behind him. But before he could even turn, something sharp hit his neck and he was out the next second, falling face first into the snow.

"Natsu, what's going on?" asked Lahar, thinking that the boy might be trying to trick him into another snowball fight like he tried earlier. Although after waiting a full minute without getting a response from him Lahar rushed over to him to make sure that he was okay. Once he got to him he was shocked to find a dart in the back of the young dragon slayer's neck.

"You did a splendid job Knight Lahar." said Brain as he emerged from a nearby tree, causing Lahar to jump back in surprise. "Or it will most likely be Captain Lahar after I talk to a few of your superiors about how well you performed today." he continued to say while walking towards the two of them.

"Who are you and what in the world are you talking about?" he asked while getting in between him and Natsu.

"It doesn't surprise me that you don't know who I am, especially when you consider that I'm usually in one of the Council's labs doing research. But to answer your first question my name is Brain, and I'm in charge of the Bureau of Magical Development a small branch of the Council as I'm sure you already know." explained Brain with a smirk that made Lahar feel as if he had insects crawling all over him.

"Do you have proof us such claims?" he asked while still protectively standing in between Natsu and Brain.

"The cautious one aren't we, something that I feel more people should strive to be in this crazy world of ours. Here you go and as for your second question, your mission has slightly changed since the Council believes that handing over the boy to me will yield better results for them." he said while handing over a few pieces of paper to the Rune Knight who was now intently reading them. "And I'm sure you realize that in order to move up the ranks in the Council you need to do missions like this one. Or possibly have someone in a higher position help you move up the ranks, and after today you'll have both." explained Brain as he watched the Rune Knight quickly comb through all of the documents he was just given.

"Everything seems to be in order, but if this boy is as big of a threat as they believe him to be I feel like I should help you escort him to wherever you're taking him." offered Lahar as he handed back the documents.

"He is definitely a threat to the Kingdom's security, but luckily for us even he can't resist the sedative that I injected him with. Which will last long enough for me to take him back to the Bureau, a place that's location unfortunately must remain a secret even from a trustworthy Knight as yourself." he replied while stepping around Lahar and picking Natsu up and tossing him over one of his shoulders.

"Fine, but can you tell me what you plan to do to him?" asked Lahar as he looked at the unconscious form of Natsu.

"Frankly speaking that is none of your business, but if you must know we're going to try and figure out his magic. Lost Magic is such a rare thing these days and there is so much we still don't know about them." he answered while heading further into the mountains, leaving behind a conflicted Lahar that remained in his spot for a few minutes not moving. Finally leaving once he decided to believe what his superiors told him, and that he just saved countless lives by preventing that boy from becoming the monster that they claimed he would be.

 **Unknown Location of The Bureau of Magical Development:**

"Are you sure it's a wise decision to bring in another subject that might be even stronger than the last one?" asked a woman in a lab coat as she and Brain looked at a lacrima screen that showed a few doctors strapping Natsu into a table in a heavily fortified room.

"Absolutely my dear, we've learned a lot since she destroyed our last facility. And I would have to say that this boy fascinates me even more than the girl you were referring to." he replied while having a smug grin spread across his face as Natsu started to wake up before they had him completely strapped down. He enjoyed the look of panic that flashed across the boy's face, but what he enjoyed even more than that was the expression that came after. An expression of someone determined to fight until the bitter end, something that he was definitely going to enjoy trying to get him to.

He was given pretty loose rules in the letter that Acnologia gave to him a week ago. They stated that so long as the boy kept all of his five senses and was able to escape on his own at the designated time, everything else that he could do was free game. Which meant that the dragon slayer currently covered in flames trying to remove the restraints on his other arm and legs was going to be put through the ringer.

"Sir, don't you think we should do something before he breaks free of his restraints?" asked the woman in a nervous tone, only to flinch as one of the men in the room was swatted to the other side of the room and didn't get back up.

"No, I want to see what he does once he's free." stated Brain as he continued to grin at the footage they were watching.

 **With Natsu:**

"Kid you need to calm down." said the only other person in the room that was still conscious besides Natsu.

"No way, just stay away from me otherwise you'll get what your friends got!" shouted back Natsu as he glared at the man, causing him to take a few steps back.

"We're only trying to help you." he replied, hoping that the kid would believe him.

"With what, because I was completely fine while I was with Lahar." stated Natsu while still glaring at the man.

"You don't know how to control your magic properly." he said, which was definitely not the correct thing to suggest to the young dragon slayer.

"You don't think I know how to control the magic Igneel gave me?" asked Natsu as the temperature in the room soared to unimaginable heights in a matter of seconds. Causing the still conscious man to start sweating profusely and really regret what he just said as he watched the supposedly fireproof straps holding back Natsu burn up to nothing. "Does this look like I don't know how to use my magic properly?" he asked while walking over to the man now trembling in fear before him.

"No." he whispered back.

"That's what I thought, now let me out of here so I can go look for Igneel." he demanded, but was shocked when the terrified man shook his head no. "Well if that's the case then I'll do it myself, **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** " he shouted while punching the poor man with a flame covered fist into the door, which he was surprised to see still standing afterwards.

"Let's see how you handle the real deal, **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** " he declared while charging at the only door in the room and throwing another flame covered fist at it. Once again shocked that it withstood his attack, but a mischievous grin spread across his lips after noticing the indent he made in the center of the door. And the small cracks that were forming around the hinges, something that he knew meant that if he hit it a few more times would result in it breaking.

 **Back with Brain:**

"Simply marvelous, he's already exceeding all of my expectations." stated Brain as he watched Natsu continue to attack the door.

"Sir, if we don't do something quick he's going to break out of the one room that he's not supposed to be able to escape from." replied the woman in a scared tone.

"I know, which makes all of this even more interesting since I was assured by you and your team that he would be helpless in that room. And as we are both seeing right now, that is completely false which makes me want to find out what else in this facility doesn't work like it's supposed to." he said with an amused chuckle as the door flew out into the hallway seconds later and the alarms started to go off.

"I can understand why you want to find all of that out, but is letting that boy run amok really the best way to do it? Just think of all the faculty that he might hurt in the process." she stated only to watch in horror as a group of guards were blasted down a hallway by a huge stream of flames. Rendering all of them unconscious as the pink haired boy took off down the hallway in just his pants and muffler.

"Honestly he's the perfect test subject for all of our security measures, just look at him go through our guards as if they aren't even there. He truly is a specimen worthy of my time." he replied while not taking his eyes off of the screen that was following the dragon slayer through the facility.

"If you say so." she said in a meek voice as she turned away from the monitor that was now showing Natsu taking out more guards in hand to hand combat. He used his smaller frame and faster reflexes to his fullest, dispatching them with quick strikes to vulnerable spots such as their joints and vital areas.

"I do, and if he looks like he might make it out I'll step in and deal with him personally." he said with a look that made the woman think he was hoping for that situation to occur.

 **With Natsu a few minutes later:**

"Geeze were in the world do you creeps keep coming from?" asked Natsu while panting and trying to catch his breath.

"Go back to your cell before you force us to hurt you." said one of the three guards blocking his way down a hallway that had fresh air coming from it. Which Natsu assumed was as good as any other way to figure out where the exit to this place might be located at.

"I thought you were claiming that you were only trying to help me?" he asked him back with a heated glare coming over his face.

"Fuck this bullshit; you're here because you're a danger to the rest of the world. Something that you've clearly proven since breaking out." shouted one of the other guards as he glared right back at him.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone, but you wouldn't let me leave like I wanted to." he argued back as his flames started to cover his whole body.

"Sure you didn't you little monster." spat out the last guard.

"I didn't, so step aside and you won't need to get hurt." declared Natsu with a little growl that caused the three guards to take a step back.

"If you go back to your cell we won't hold any of this against you." said the first guard, hoping to resolve this peacefully if he could.

"Hold what against me? All I'm doing is trying to break free from a group of strangers that took me to who knows where without asking." Natsu asked back as he started to walk towards them.

"You asked for it brat!" shouted a different guard as he swung his baton at him. Only for it to be caught just inches away from landing a blow on the little dragon slayer, but what shocked the guards more was when they watched the metal bend and melt away until all he was holding was just the handle.

"I really didn't want to do this, **FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK!"** shouted Natsu as he rushed between them, resulting with the three of them to be engulfed in flames that launched them in the direction that he took off in. And he looked to both sides of himself as the three guards fell to the ground knocked out.

He was about to start heading towards the door at the end of the hallway until he heard the sounds of clapping coming out of a speaker on the wall right beneath the ceiling. Seeing that it wasn't a person for him to fight he decided to ignore it and continue on his way.

"Very good Natsu." came a voice through the speaker that caused Natsu to stop in his tracks and twirl around so he was now facing the speaker.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" he asked while glaring at the source of the voice.

"Who I am isn't important my dear little dragon slayer, as for how I know your name. Let's just say that some very important people are interested in you and your magic, which is where I come in." replied the voice.

"How so?" asked the dragon slayer with a confused expression.

"Simple, while you're here I'm going to figure out everything I can about your magic and what you're capable of. So I'm only going to give you this offer once, you can either stay here willingly and be treated as an honored guest. Or you can try to leave and force me to do this the hard way." proposed the voice, causing Natsu to let out a growl.

"I'd like to see you try." he declared before taking off down the hallway.

"I was hoping you'd choose the hard way." came the voice in an amused tone. This caused Natsu to think that something might be off, which was exactly the case when he felt his foot push in a weight trigger on the floor. And the next second he was blasted with enough electricity to render him unconscious, making him unable to see Brain as he came in through the end of the hallway with a twisted grin spread across his face.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading this new story of mine that I was only able to do thanks to the contribution and input of Awareness Bringer. So there you have it, the beginning of a new story that I hope you'll all enjoy as much as my other work. Which I know I sure will since I'm a huge fan of a darker Natsu which this one will definitely be, and since I'm working on this story with Awareness Bringer I don't really have any other questions for all of you at this time like I usually do. But that doesn't mean I don't want to hear any input you might have for the two of us as we continue on with this story.**

 **Oh and if you would like me to update faster or possibly start a new story I have information about my page that I set up on my profile page.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	2. A Living Hell

Ch 2: A Living Hell

 **July 17th X777 in the lowest level of The Bureau of Magical Development:**

For the Bureau this was the level that they used to test some of their more dangerous experiments; experiments that if done incorrectly or done somewhere else could result in half of the research facility being destroyed. It required an elevator ride that took five whole minutes to gain access to this area of the facility, and until today this level mainly focused on lacrimas and weapons the Council were interested in. But now it had a new thing to focus on, or it would be more accurate to say someone to focus on.

Currently chained to the center of a fairly large room by magic restraining shackles was a young pink haired boy that was just now finally regaining his consciousness. And as soon as he did, Natsu shot up only to fall back down flat on his face due to the shackles around his wrists and ankles. This caused him to let out a growl as he tried to slip out of them, which he quickly realized wasn't going to happen. So with a little smirk he decided to just melt them away and figure out what was going on, but to his shock and horror nothing happened.

"Sorry but that's not going to work Natsu, those chains seal away your magic. Something that I'm shocked we had to resort to in order to keep you under control, but that just speaks to how strong of a test subject you are." came the same voice over the speakers that he heard while he tried to escape the other day.

"Why are you doing this and where is Igneel?" shouted out Natsu as he continued to try and break free of the chains that prevented him from using his magic.

"I'm doing this because you're the last known dragon slayer in the entire world my boy." replied the voice in a creepily excited tone. "As for that dragon you're trying to find, I have no idea where it went and no else does either if it even existed at all that is." finished the voice as Natsu stopped fighting against his chains and looked up at the speaker in the corner of his empty room.

"You're lying, Igneel exists and you're also lying about nobody seeing him!" he shouted back while glaring up at the speaker with a look that really didn't belong on someone as young as him.

"You're right, I don't know if this dragon of yours actually exists or not. But I do know for a fact that no one has seen a real dragon for at least a hundred years now." stated the voice still sounding amused by all of this.

"Then you're wrong! Lahar told me that he saw Igneel flying through the skies!" he shouted up at the speaker once again with a slight grin coming over his face.

"That's because we told him to tell you that." said the voice as a confused expression came over the young teen's face. "We knew that if he told you that stuff you'd willing follow him without a second thought, making it that much easier for us to capture you like we did." explained the voice with a little chuckle at the end.

"So he lied to me?" asked Natsu with his head down as he looked at his shackled feet.

"That he did Natsu, and do you want to know why he did?" asked the voice that he still couldn't put a face to.

"Why?" he asked not really caring what reason Lahar had for lying to him. All that he could think of right now was if all humans were like this, and if so was that why Igneel kept him away from them the whole time they were together.

"He lied to you because he's afraid of what you might be capable of. And he's not the only one my dear little dragon slayer, all it took was a few words from me and the entire Council was on board with taking you out before you can do any real damage." answered the voice in a tone that hinted at how much the person was enjoying all of this.

"But I didn't do anything wrong, and I would never go around hurting people who don't deserve it!" he argued back while once again glaring up at the speaker.

"I don't doubt that, even while you were trying to escape you tried to get out of here without hurting anyone that you didn't have to. But unfortunately for you that doesn't really matter anymore, the Council has more than likely already forgotten about you since you're no longer a threat to them anymore." replied the voice over the speaker again. This caused the young pink haired dragon slayer's expression to change into a slightly confused one, which more than likely indicated that he was trying to think through something.

"So you could let me go?" he asked with a hopeful expression quickly coming over his face.

"Indeed I could." replied the voice, resulting with Natsu's expression becoming one even happier than it used to be just moments ago. "But I won't." continued the voice over the speaker system as the boy lost his joyous expression. "You're too valuable of a test subject to me, not only do you have a form of lost magic. But you also seem to be quite proficient with it and have more raw magic than most mages ever achieve after years of training." explained the voice in a serious tone that lacked the creepiness that it usually had.

"But I need to find Igneel." stated Natsu with a slightly defeated look passing over his little face.

"Sorry, but that will have to wait until I'm through with you." said the voice once again going back to that creepy tone that sounded as if this was all very enjoyable for the man.

"What if I promised to come back after I look for Igneel just for a little bit?" he asked once again looking up at the speaker with a hopeful look.

"We possibly could have done something like that yesterday when I proposed that you stay here as a guest of mine. Although, like I said yesterday that was a onetime offer, from here on out I don't really give a fuck what you want. But I do want to make one thing clear to you Natsu, I will always get what I want and it will definitely be less painful for you if you realize that fact quickly." responded the man calling the shots through speaker as the door opened. And waiting on the other side of those doors were some slightly banged up security guards that didn't look too pleased with the dragon slayer that put them in their current state.

"You're going to regret not letting me go." he mumbled just barely being picked up by the microphone in the room, and being completely ignored by the guards that were slowly walking towards him.

Most kids would have become terrified just looking at the group of men coming towards them with such wicked grins on their faces. But then again most kids weren't raised by a dragon, and not just any dragon, Igneel, the King of the Fire Dragons. So rather than having a scared expression like most of the guards thought he would, Natsu just glared back at them defiantly.

"I think you have it completely wrong my boy; you're going to be the one regretting that you didn't accept my offer." stated the voice with a little laugh at the end. "Remember boys, he still needs to be capable to run a few tests of mine after this." finished the voice before the speakers made a slight click, which meant that they were just turned off.

"So who's going to be the first one to put this brat in his place?" asked one of the guards as he flipped a switch on the rod he was holding. This resulted with the other end of the rod springing to life with electricity racing around the tip, just waiting to find a way to the ground.

"I think that honor should go to me, seeing as the little prick broke my arm." answered a fairly large guard as he made his way to the front of the group. And sure enough his right arm was now in a cast and resting in a sling in front of his chest.

"You shouldn't have gotten in my way." stated Natsu with a slight smirk directed at the man. Who upon hearing this seemed to completely lose what little restraint he still had left and charged the chained down boy, delivering a devastating kick to his chest. A kick that did more damage than it usually would have thanks to the chains holding the boy from flying back and into a wall.

"Not so tough now are you?" he asked while standing over the boy with a smug grin.

"Tougher than you'll ever be." coughed out Natsu as he slowly got up to his feet. "What kind of coward attacks a little kid that's chained up?" he asked while giving the man another smirk just like the one before.

"Oh I'm going to really enjoy this." declared the guard as he twirled around to grab the electrified rod from his fellow guard. And before any of the other guards could even move, he turned back around and started to hit Natsu over and over again. He was now letting out a crazed laugh as he continued to shock and beat the boy to his heart's desire.

 **Meanwhile in the Control Room of the facility:**

"We need to stop this at once." declared a woman wearing a lab coat and was the only other person in the room besides Brain. She had black hair that you couldn't tell how long it was due to her having it up in a messy bun, which she didn't care how it looked so long as it kept her hair out of the way. Just from one look at her you could tell that she had a natural beauty to her, and if she devoted a little more time to appearance would definitely turn most men's heads. Instead of being worried about such trivial things in her opinion, she focused on her work for the Council that she has been working for over the last decade which would put her at the age of someone in their early thirties. The only other things that would set her apart from her fellow scientist was her red glasses and pencil that she always kept tucked behind her right ear.

She and Brain were currently watching a lacrima screen that was showing Natsu being savagely beaten by the one guard with the rest of them just standing back and watching.

"We'll do no such thing Dr. Sarah." replied Brain with a sinister grin slowly making its way across his lips. "This is a perfect way to see how resistant the young boy is, while also serving as a good stress reliever for the guards." he continued to say while taking a seat in one of the chairs and pulling out a notepad to jot his notes down on.

"But he's going to kill him!" declared Sarah while turning away from the screen, not wanting to see any more of the ruthless beating.

"Yes he is." he said to her shock and horror.

"Then why on earth are you not stopping him?" she asked now actually yelling at her superior.

"Because you've got who's killing who all wrong." he answered now sporting the biggest grin she's ever seen on him, which unfortunately only made what he just said even more confusing to her. "Judging by your expression you're still a little confused. If you continue to watch I'm positive that you'll understand within the next few moments." he said while gesturing to the screen he was intently watching.

"I don't want to watch a man mercilessly beat a child to death!" she shouted back at him.

"And I can promise you that you'll see no such thing today." replied Brain as he pulled out the chair next to him while not taking his eyes off the screen for even a second. "Come take a seat and watch our little test subject do what he's been trained to do." he said while giving the chair a few pats.

"What in the world are you talking about?" she asked once again completely lost at what her superior was hinting at.

"Just watch." he responded in an excited tone. Sarah could tell that he wasn't going to answer any of her questions right now since he believed that she would figure it all out if she went back to watching the lacrima screen. So with an exhausted sigh she sat down in the chair next to him and went back to watching a boy being beaten by a man at least fifteen years older than him.

Just as she went back to watching the live feed of what was transpiring a few hundred feet below them, it happened so suddenly she would have almost missed it if she had blinked right then. One moment the giant guard that had been beating the boy senseless with one of their electric rods was all of a sudden staggering forward thanks to one of his legs being kicked out from under him. But before the man could even hit the ground, in one swift motion there was now a chain wrapped around his neck that was slowly asphyxiating him. And the one responsible for this drastic turn of events was the young boy, who was now glaring at the other guards with the chain attached to his right wrist thrown over his left shoulder to keep the choking guard from being able to loosen the chain around his throat.

"One step forward and I swear on Igneel's might I'll kill this bastard!" shouted out Natsu causing all of the still shocked guards to actually take a few steps back. Which after the young dragon slayer witnessed caused him to loosen his chain around the guard's throat just enough for him to get the air that he so desperately needed.

"Now that's more like it." he said now giving all of the slightly scared guards a frightening grin that let them all see his fangs. "So which one of you jerks is going to get me out of these chains?" he asked in a commanding tone.

"Don't give this fucking brat a god damn thing and attack him for…" shouted out the guard currently at the boy's mercy. Only for it to quickly change into the sounds of someone having the life choked out of them as they frantically clawed at whatever was constricting their throat.

"Do you really want to die that badly?" asked Natsu while giving a quick glance over his shoulder at the gasping guard. "Because if they don't listen to me, then that is exactly what's going to happen to you." he finished while slowly turning back to the other guards. Letting them all see from his expression that he wasn't messing around and would definitely end the other guard's life with a quick yank of his chain.

The guards were definitely out of their comfort zone on this one and didn't really know how to react, so they did the first thing that came to mind. This was to not say or do anything, and instead slowly turn towards the camera watching them with a pleading look on all of their faces. Hoping that Brain would tell them how they should handle this situation that absolutely none of them saw coming.

"Rats, I really thought that he was going to kill him right away?" stated Brain as he leaned back in his chair and started to rub his chin in thought.

"You knew this was going to happen and just sat back and let it!" shouted Sarah as she twisted to her side to look at her boss.

"That I did, but as I just said, he didn't do exactly what I thought he would." he replied while still stroking his chin in thought. "Rather than finishing the guard off, he's decided to try and use the poor soul as a bargaining chip to help him escape." he said now once again sporting one of his creepy grins.

"We need to tell the guards to do as he tells them." stated Sarah as she turned away from him and started to go for the intercom to relay that order to them. But before she could even take her second step a firm hand took hold of her left wrist and stopped her from proceeding any further.

"We will do no such thing my dear." he said as his grin continued to grow in both size and creepiness. "I want to see if our little dragon slayer is a man of his words and carries out that threat of his." he finished now starting to chuckle to himself as he pushed Sarah to the side and headed to the intercom.

"You can't be serious, you're actually going to let one of your own men die!" she shouted at him from the spot on the floor that she fell to.

"Indeed I am; that idiot brought this on himself for letting the boy rile him up like he did. And now he's going to suffer the consequence." replied Brian with another chuckle before reaching down and turning on the intercom.

As soon as the guards heard the speaker come back to life with a slight crackle, they all let out a sigh of relief. All except for one of them, who was currently making a wheezing sound and had a bluish tint to his face thanks to the lack of oxygen. Little did any of them know that the message they were going to be receiving was something that none of them were hoping for.

"You are definitely a boy full of surprises Natsu, but that just makes me only that much more intrigued with you and what you're actually capable of." came the voice of Brain from the speaker.

"Thanks I guess, so are you going to let me go now?" Natsu asked back as he gave the chain a quick yank that caused the poor guard to let what the rest of the other guards could only assume was a scream.

"No, that is exactly what is not going to be happening today." replied Brain in a calm tone as the other guards looked at the camera in shock. "Guards please slowly approach our test subject." he commanded, only for all of the guards to look up at the camera as if they must have misheard him. "That's an order!" he growled out at them, letting them all remember who they really should be afraid of right now.

And to Natsu's shock and horror they all slowly turned back to him and started to take one step at a time towards him. The first two steps that they took caused him to slightly freak out and wonder if they really cared so little about one of their own to just let him die. But once they took their third step towards him he snapped back to reality and knew that he was soon going to find out the answer to his own question about them.

"If any of you takes another step towards me he's as good as dead!" spat out Natsu as he gestured to the guard behind him with his left hand. And he was pleased to see all of them once again come to a complete standstill that is until a slight cough came over the speaker. Letting all of the guards know Brain was still watching them and expecting them to continue on like he ordered them to. The next few seconds felt like an eternity to the young dragon slayer as he watched all of the guards take a united step towards him as a single unit.

Natsu had always hoped that he would be fortunate enough to never have to take the life of another human being, but it seemed that he wasn't so lucky. Igneel had repeatedly drilled into that little skull of his that the world was a cruel place, and that he at some point in his future might have to kill someone. He just never thought that it would come so quickly, or that it would be over something so stupid as testing if he was a man of his word.

So with a prominent scowl spread across his mug, Natsu with a swift jerk pulled down on the chain shackled to his right wrist. What resulted afterwards was a loud pop and a slight crunching sound coming from behind his back, signaling that the guard had just been sent to the afterlife. This caused the other guards to once again come to a complete stop and look at him with horrified expression coming over most of their faces. Since a good majority of them believed that the boy was just bluffing about his threat to kill the guard like he claimed he would.

And that shock quickly turned into anger at witnessing one of their own being put down right in front of them. But before any of them could act on their anger the amused voice of Brain came out of the speakers again. "Impressive, to think that someone so young could kill another human being so easily. But considering that you were supposedly raised by a dragon it should have been expected I guess, so as a reward the rest of your physical and endurance test for today will be postponed." he said to the shock of the guards.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, we're just going to let this little bastard off scot free after he killed Mat!" shouted out a clearly upset guard as he glared up at the camera that Natsu took notice of after the guards first started to look towards it.

"For today we are, or are you starting to question my authority and how I run this facility?" asked Brain in a stern tone as the guard shook his head no. "Good, because you all know what happens to those that do. Oh and Mat dying today should be seen as a warning to the rest of you to not let your emotions get the better of you. Not only that, but that my orders are to be followed to the T which he didn't do and I would have killed him myself if Natsu hadn't." he finished in a threatening tone that caused the guards to all gulp and nod their heads in understanding.

"Good, and seeing how we still don't have a room designed to keep you contained just yet Natsu. That will be it for today since I don't feel like watching you beat the living shit out of the guards more than you already have." finished Brain before once again turning off the intercom and taking a seat in his chair.

He watched with a smug grin spread across his lips as the rest of the guards begrudgingly left Natsu all alone in the room as they crammed into the elevator after retrieving the body of Mat. As soon as the guards were in the elevator Natsu collapsed to the floor and looked as if he was in serious pain, but was still trying to hide that fact from where he now knew the camera was located.

"You let him die." stated Sarah in a disbelieving voice.

"I did, and because of that we now know the boy doesn't just throw around empty threats and probably believes that someone is only as good as their word. Which would probably explain why he was so shocked to find out that Lahar lied to him yesterday." he said while quickly jotting down a few notes on his pad.

"We could have found that out without losing one of our own." she pointed out still shocked at what she just witnessed.

"True, but then we never really would have known how far he was willing to go. Now we know that there is pretty much nothing he won't do if he sees no other option." he replied while starting to write notes on other tests to test the boy's will and determination to get out of there.

"What did you mean when you said that we would see him do what he was trained to do?" asked Sarah now watching the screen with a blank expression, more than likely still trying to come to grips with what she just watched play out before her.

"You still don't know?" he asked her with an eyebrow raised questioningly, only for her to shake her head no at him. "Now this is probably not a commonly held belief by most people in the world. But for me at least, it is something that I can't deny and find it hard to see how people think otherwise. Magic at its core is just another form of a weapon that only a select few are given access to." he stated as if it was the one thing he truly believed.

"How do you figure?" she asked, thinking about all of the positives that have come from magic and the studying of it. But after being with Brain for the past few months she knew for a fact that he always had a reason for everything he said and did.

"It's our next step in the evolutionary line of humans, making the likelihood of the continuation of our species drastically better. As with all evolutions that occur naturally, they are brought about only to increase the chances of that species' survival. Which for us humans is magic, something that gives our puny species the power to take on creatures we would otherwise have no chance going up against in a confrontation." he explained while still writing things down on his note pad.

"I can see how that would make sense, but that still doesn't explain what you said before." she replied with a thoughtful expression slowly coming over her features as she tried to figure it out on her own.

"If you are of the same mindset as me on magic just being a different form of a weapon that we humans were lucky enough to receive. Then Natsu using his magic to fend off and eventually kill his tormentors is doing what he was meant to do after all of his training with his lost magic." stated Brain as he stood up and headed towards the exit.

"Then wouldn't that mean he's eventually going to come after us?" she asked his retreating figure that came to a stop in the doorway.

"Indeed it would; and all I can say to that is I'm excited to see what he'll be capable of when that day finally comes." he answered before closing the door behind him and leaving Sarah all alone in the control room with nothing but her thoughts and the screen displaying Natsu curled up in on himself.

 **January 28th X778, just a little over six months later:**

"How was that?" asked Natsu in between slight gasps for breath, which showed how tired he actually was after letting off that last move of his. A move that completely decimated the Magic Power Finder positioned on the other side of the room.

"You did great Natsu, but unfortunately that MPF wasn't designed to withstand the temperatures that you can produce. So we weren't able to get an accurate read on your power levels." came the voice of Sarah over the speaker system.

"Sorry." he replied with a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his head. "You said you wanted me to use my strongest move and that's what I did." he finished just as the wall behind the MPF crumbled and collapsed in on itself. This prompted the four guards in the room with the young dragon slayer to start becoming extremely nervous for their own safety. This was something that they were usually concerned about whenever in the presence of the pink haired boy.

Over the last six months, Natsu has on numerous occasions tried to escape from the Bureau of Magical Development. All of which failed thanks to Brain intervening before it would have become too late to contain the boy. And during most of these failed attempts of his, some of the guards would get in his way and try to prevent him from continuing on. But that would always end with them receiving one hell of a beat down, that only got more severe the longer Natsu remained a captive of theirs.

The reason for this increase in hostility towards the guards was directly related to their usual visits to him almost every morning. These visits of theirs consisted of them beating him in various ways that they were only able to do thanks to him being shackled with magic suppressing shackles. Of course all of the guards didn't participate in this barbaric activity of theirs and those were the ones that he would still take down usually with a quick chop or kick to the back of their heads.

Another reason that the poor guards were slightly on edge at the moment was because most of Natsu's escape attempts happened when they were running these sort of tests on him. Something that none of them were too thrilled to hear about when Brain first started to do them, but how else were they supposed to learn more about his magic if he couldn't demonstrate it to them? But luckily these guards got the schedule when Sarah was in charge of doing the tests, which meant that the likelihood of the dragon slayer trying to escape were extremely low.

But not because of her being feared by him, no it was because she was one of the few people in the Bureau that actually treated him like a person. And because of this he quickly grew to like her and tried to not make her life harder than it already was by misbehaving. Of course this didn't happen overnight for Natsu and it took her visiting him for over a month before he started to open up to her. It wasn't until he overheard some of the guards wondering why she was nice to him, when all he did was cause Brain to get upset with her and give her more work to do. That was when he started to do as he was told with her and not attempt to escape.

And after doing that he found out that a lot of the stuff they were trying to get him to do wasn't that bad. Some of them were as simple as showing off what moves he knew and testing how much damage he could cause. Of course his favorite test was sparring against random mages that he had no idea where they came from or if they were in a similar situation as himself. For all of these sparring tests he has yet to lose to any of them, which is quite impressive considering that some of them were at least twelve years older than him.

Unfortunately for Natsu, these tests weren't as frequent as the ones that he disliked. Like the various tests they ran on him to see how fast his body would recover from certain illnesses and wounds. Or the one test that he completely despised, which wasn't really a test and definitely them just stealing his magic and trying to put it into a lacrima. Something that they have so far been completely unsuccessful in, meaning that they were doing that one almost three times a week.

He also wasn't a fan of that a certain test that ran for a few days, just to determine if he could last longer than most mages without food or water. Brain and the rest of his researchers were shocked to find out that it was exactly the opposite of what they predicted. It seemed that using dragon slaying magic required a high intake of calories and if he didn't get them his magic decreased drastically in power. After finding that out he was given as much food as he could ever possibly want during his down time, something that he appreciated since they actually had pretty good food.

Overall Natsu still had a few things to be thankful for, which allowed him to keep a small sliver of hope that he'd eventually make it out of there and find Igneel. And because of that little hope he was slowly learning more and more about the Bureau and how it was run. Each escape attempt of his gave him a new little piece of information that he didn't have before, one of the biggest ones was that they didn't know how good all of his senses were. And judging from their tests it didn't seem like they were too interested in finding out, which gave him a huge advantage so long as it stayed that way.

"Let's get moving brat." said one of the guards as he stepped towards Natsu only to stagger backwards after getting one look from the boy.

"Just because I don't intend to try and escape today doesn't mean I won't beat the living shit out of you." he growled out while giving the guard that spoke up a glare that almost caused the man to shit himself. "We all know that he doesn't give two shits if a few of you are sent to the infirmary, so what was it you were saying?" he asked still glaring at the guard.

"T-to t-take your time and… and that you're needed in the sparring chamber in t-twenty minutes." the guard stuttered out as he slightly started to hide behind one of the other guards.

"I didn't know that I was going to have a sparring session today." replied Natsu in an excited tone that was completely opposite from the one he had just moments ago.

"That would probably be because today's session is going to be a little different." stated Sarah over the speaker.

"How so?" he asked her back while looking up at the camera with a curious expression spread across his face.

"That I unfortunately don't know, Natsu, but you know who seems really excited about it." she replied in a slightly nervous tone that she hoped he wouldn't pick up on. But that hope of hers was quickly destroyed with just one look at the serious expression the boy now had on his visage.

"I guess I'll just have to wait and find out for myself." he said as his expression shifted back to a slight smile that was meant to reassure Sarah that he'd be alright.

"That you will… good luck." she said before turning off her microphone and falling back into her chair while releasing an exhausted sigh.

"It would seem that my decision to not stop your little visits with him might pay off." stated Brain from a chair further behind her. Sarah didn't even have to turn around and look at him to know that he currently had one of his devious grins plastered across his face at the moment. And frankly she didn't care about it, what she cared about right now was how this upcoming test was going to affect the young dragon slayer she started to bond with and just lied to.

"This is the last time I'm ever going to lie to him." she declared in a tone that would have caused a lesser individual to turn and run. But unfortunately Brain wasn't such a person and only seemed to enjoy it when she tried to fight him on things related to Natsu.

"You and I both know that this will definitely not be the last time you do something like that to him." he chuckled out while getting up from his chair and doing a few quick little stretches of his arms.

"It'll be the last time that I ever do it for you." she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear her as she looked at the monitor with a sad look as it was currently showing the young boy walking through one of the hall ways.

"And I'm completely okay with that my dear Sarah." he replied while coming to a stop in the doorway of the control room. "But keep in mind that we are both here to find out everything we can about him and his magic, so don't let your feelings for him distract you from that fact. Or possibly cause you to do something that would force me to terminate your current deal with the department." he finished before heading out the door and going down the hallway.

During his walk Brain couldn't help the small smirk making its way across his face as he headed towards one of their waiting rooms. He never would have guessed that two such promising individuals would pretty much show up on his doorstep. Yes, Natsu came with very specific instructions on what he was supposed to achieve with the boy during his stay with him. He was already learning so much from the young dragon slayer and knew that he was only going to learn more about the boy's magic during the rest of his stay. And luckily for him he just recently found a sure fire way to accomplish exactly what Acnologia wanted for the boy.

"Am I finally going to get to see this dragon slayer of yours?" came the voice of a young teenager, effectively snapping Brain out of his thoughts. While also slightly shocking the man since he rarely got lost in his own thoughts like that, but you couldn't really blame him when everything seemed to be falling exactly into place for him at the moment.

"Yes you will Jellal." replied Brain with a wide grin as he looked at the young blue haired mage waiting patiently for him in a waiting room that had chairs lining the walls and nothing to do but read the magazines provided. "And I can guarantee that this meeting will change your life." he finished with his grin only getting bigger.

"We'll see about that." scoffed Jellal as he got up from the chair he was sitting in and followed after Brain.

"That we will, and are you sure you're actually okay with fighting him?" Brain asked while giving the boy a quick glance as he led him to the elevator that led to the lower levels.

"Of course, what better way to see for myself if he's actually as good as you claim?" he answered while glaring up at the man that was currently helping him learn a few new types of magic. "And yes I know that you're afraid that he might kill me, but I'm confident that I'll easily be able to handle him." stated the ambitious mage before Brain could say something along those lines to him.

"You've been warned, good luck Jellal." replied Brain still having that enormous grin of his as he pressed a hidden button on the wall they were next to. And they both watched as the wall receded back just far enough for it to then slide open and reveal an elevator waiting there. "This is where we'll part ways." he continued to say while gesturing for Jellal to enter the hidden elevator. Jellal just shook his head and entered the elevator with a confident smirk spread across his lips as the doors closed and the elevator started to descend.

"This should be interesting." said Brain as he headed back to the control room.

 **Down in the arena:**

The arena wasn't anything more than a completely barren room that had been reinforced to handle what Natsu could dish out. This meant that the walls were a few feet thick of some of the country's strongest stone and had an additional three inches of what was supposed to be fire proof steel. Something that the young dragon slayer proved to be absolutely false when up against him and his flames. And right now said boy was waiting in the middle of the arena for his opponent to finally show up.

"It's about time." said Natsu as he turned to look at the door opening. Only for him to be at a loss for words once he saw who he was supposed to go up against, which to his eyes at least was a boy just a few years older than him.

"So you're the boy claiming to be raised by a dragon?" asked Jellal with a smirk as he strolled into the arena as the guards closed the door behind him.

"It's not just a claim, I was actually raised by a dragon." he growled back at the blue haired boy that he already didn't like. "Are you guys serious? This isn't even going to be a chal…" he started to ask one of the many cameras floating around the room. But before he could finish his thought he was sent flying into one of the other walls by a swift kick to his chest.

"You're quite the cocky little brat aren't you." stated Jellal as he watched Natsu slowly get back up.

"No, I just know when an opponent isn't worth my time." replied Natsu as a slightly menacing grin slowly spread across his mug while he looked up at his opponent.

"I can't wait to make you choke on those words." he said before sprinting at the pink haired boy with speeds that most would have a hard time to be able to follow. With a confident grin spread across his face he pulled back his right arm and was ready to smash it into Natsu's face. Then the unthinkable happened to him, his fist was stopped before it even got close to making contact with its target.

But that was just the start of what was going to become a very humbling experience for the young blue haired boy that believed to be stronger and smarter than everyone else he's met so far. He tried to pull back his fist only for it to start feeling like his hand was being crushed in a vice at an agonizingly slow pace. That was when he finally locked eyes with Natsu and was surprised to not be looking at a mere boy like he expected. No, what he saw before him was what he could only describe as a dragon in human form, glaring at him with disdain for thinking that they were equal.

"You're just like all of those other bastards that I've gone up against so far." growled out Natsu as he continued to crush Jellal's hand. "Thinking that because of my hair and age that I'll be an easy fight, well guess what?" he asked while his captive at the moment was trying his hardest to not scream out in agony. "You've just made one of your worst mistakes in your miserable life." he finished with a swift punch to the other boy's gut. Causing Jellal to almost pass out from it alone, but instead he coughed up a little blood and spit as he was then sent flying to the other side of the room.

"Now you've done it." he coughed out as he staggered to his feet. " **DARK MASS!** " he shouted out as a dark sphere formed in front of him and started to expand towards his opponent who didn't seem too worried about the spell just cast. The sphere of darkness after becoming at least as twice as big as the two of them together shifted into tentacles and launched towards Natsu.

Who once again didn't seem to care, which was probably because he dodged them as if he had been practicing his whole life for that exact attack to be sent his way. This of course caught Jellal off guard since that attack wasn't one that any normal mage should be able to dodge so easily. But as he was soon to learn, Natsu was anything but a normal mage and was now right in front of him with a grin that he knew meant he was soon going to be in a lot of pain. And just like he thought, he was then sent flying to the right as a searing pain was felt on his left side along with what he could only assume was a few of his ribs cracking.

"Just stay down." stated Natsu now standing in the spot that used to occupy his blue haired opponent.

"Fuck that you little piece of shit! I don't care if Br…" shouted Jellal in anger as he got back up to his feet, luckily catching himself before he gave out information on Brain. "He said I couldn't kill you but I no longer care what that bastard wants, you're going to die today! **DARK VANISH!** " he bellowed with a crazed grin, but that grin became an expression of complete shock and confusion. Because instead of watching the pink haired boy explode and leave behind just his clothes like the few other times he used that spell, absolutely nothing happened.

Well saying absolutely nothing happened would be incorrect since Natsu used this time and Jellal's shock to get right up to him. This time deciding to actually call out a spell of his, and since he already had Jellal backed up against the wall he knew he would be able to land multiple of them. **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!"** he shouted out as both of his fists ignited in his orange flames right before he unleashed a fury of hits on the completely unprepared teen in front of him.

Natsu only stopped this assault of his when he was confident that Jellal wouldn't be able to get back up on his own accord, something that he was sure about since he felt a few more bones break under his fists. He gave the barely conscious mage one last sneer before heading back into the center of the room, where he now stood waiting for his opponent to be taken out of the room and for them to inform him what was next. But after a minute of waiting in silence he got fed up and decided that he might as well ask them what they wanted him to do.

"That wasn't even a challenge for me, so what's next?" he asked while giving one of the floating cameras that caught the entire fight a confident smirk. Nothing happened, and he had to wait another few minutes without getting any response, causing him to listen to the wheezing breath of Jellal in the corner.

"Okay I'm getting sick of just standing here!" he shouted out while now glaring at the cameras watching his every move.

"Then do something about it." came Brain's voice from a camera now floating right in front of him.

"Like what, I've already beaten him?" he asked with a confused expression now prominently displayed on his face.

"Yes you have, but you haven't beaten him completely." replied Brain in an amused tone, which caused Natsu to only become even more confused as he tried to figure out what exactly he was being told to do.

"What do you mean I haven't beaten him completely? He can no longer fight." he stated while pointing to the defeated form of Jellal.

"For now at least, but give him a few weeks of recovery and he'll be more than ready to fight you again. But this time he'll know what he's up against so he'll probably try and do something underhanded to get the best of you. And as you've already heard he won't think twice about killing you if that happens." said Brain in a serious tone that no longer sounded like he was enjoying himself.

"Then I'll just beat him again no matter what he might try to pull on me." declared Natsu.

"Now you're just being as arrogant as he was when going up against you just a few minutes ago." he stated in a tone that Natsu interpreted as smug. After saying that the two remained quiet, Natsu was trying to figure out what he was still supposed to do while Brain was waiting for the boy to come to the conclusion on his own.

"I'm not going to kill him just because you're fucking telling me to!" shouted out Natsu now covered in his own flames that were slowly getting bigger and wilder with each passing second.

"But that's the only real way to be certain that he'll never bother you again." came the voice once again from one of the other cameras since Natsu accidentally destroyed a few of them in his sudden outburst.

"I'm still not going to kill him for something as stupid as that!" Natsu defiantly yelled back.

"If you don't do as you're told then there will be severe consequences for you." said Brain now having a slight tint of anger in his voice.

"I don't give a fuck what you do to me, I won't kill him just because you told me to." he shouted out as he started to condense all of his fire into his hands, which let Brain know what he was about to do. So with a tired sigh Brain pushed a button in front of him and watched the young dragon slayer slowly start staggering about, no longer being capable of casting a devastating spell like he was just seconds away from doing. The last thing he saw before exiting the control room was Natsu falling flat on his face thanks to the gases they pumped into the room.

"You'll soon realize that you don't really have a choice in this matter." Brain mumbled to himself before heading to his own office to start preparing for the next part in his plans. As he exited the control room he didn't notice the proud smile that Sarah had on her face after watching Natsu refuse to kill Jellal just because he was told to.

 **July 5th X778:**

After the incident on January 28th things became a lot worse for Natsu, the first thing that happened was he was no longer able to have as much food as he wanted. This was something that upset him more than he would ever like to admit to anyone, but it was a small price to pay in his mind for the life of someone else. The next time he had a skirmish he was once again told to kill his opponent after rendering them no longer capable of fighting. He once again refused and they were forced to take him out with the gases that seemed to be one of the safest ways of taking him down.

Once he refused for a second time he was subjugated to more severe beatings by the guards and more of the other tests that he didn't care for since they were pretty much just torture now. But he still held strong and continued to defy Brain and wouldn't kill his opponent after taking them down. After a month of this going on Natsu was caught off guard when Brain didn't sound upset with him when he stated that he wouldn't kill the man just like all of the ones before.

It was a week later when he figured out why Brain wasn't upset with him and didn't do anything to make his time there worse than it already was. And the reason for that was because he had spent the last week slowly killing Natsu's opponent in a very agonizing way and recording it for the dragon slayer to watch. Natsu tried to not watch but didn't really have an option when he was chained down in a room with it playing on a continuous loop.

Natsu hoped that this was going to be just a onetime punishment, but after not killing his next four opponents he found out that he was incorrect about that. This brought him to a really low point where he was forced into killing his opponents, not because he cared for any of them. But because, despite his overall distrust for humans and slight hatred, he still didn't believe that anyone deserved to be put through something as terrible as Brain was doing to them. At least that was how he was rationalizing his reason for killing them as quickly and painlessly as he possibly could.

But even after telling himself that he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself, something that Sarah picked up on. And since she was the only one in the whole facility that seemed to care about him in the slightest, it was up to her to help him. Which she was able to do by telling him that all of the mages he was facing off against and eventually killing, were criminals that the Council were going to execute before the Bureau asked if they could have them. Of course this wasn't the whole truth, but it was more than enough to make Natsu no longer have such severe self-loathing.

And that is how the rest of his time at Bureau of Magical Development went for Natsu, tests upon tests with him facing off against a new mage at least once a week. Which is exactly what he was doing at the moment, trembling underneath him was a young shadow mage that in Natsu's opinion only impressive spell was being able to go into his shadows to escape attacks thrown at him. But even with a move like that he wasn't able to escape from the dragon slayer towering over him.

"Please, have mercy!" pleaded the man before his eyes shot wide open in shock.

"This is the only form of mercy I can give you." replied Natsu in a whisper as he pulled his hand from a now gaping hole where the man's heart was located. "A quick death." he finished with a sad expression as he burnt away the blood on his hand. After which he looked up as the doors to the room opened up, revealing a group of completely terrified guards.

The guards being afraid of him was something that he grew accustomed to during his time there, that along with the hatred for him that they only showed when he was chained up. So seeing them currently like this intrigued him enough to not try any sort of escape attempt so he could try and figure why they were acting this way. With this in mind he put his wrists behind his back and waited patiently for them to cuff him and shackle his feet together as an extra precaution.

"You know the drill." stated one of the guards in a harsh tone as he nudged the dragon slayer forward.

"Yeah, yeah, back to my cell until the next test. So what's it going to be today?" he asked the guard only for him to pick up an increase in all of their heart rates and a smell that he now attributed to true fear. Smelling this caused him to really grow concerned about what they weren't telling him at the moment since he usually only smelt that specific scent of fear before he delivered the finishing blow.

So for the rest of the walk back to his cell not a single one of them said a single word to each other, which wouldn't have been that odd for him if it didn't feel as if they were walking on eggshells while in his presence. Once he was back to his cell, they chained him to the floor like normal but this time a few of them went back into the hall to get something. And that certain something was a small lacrima screen with a video lacrima already playing in it.

He was about to ask them what the hell was going on when the screen flickered from footage of him to a close up of Sarah. And just from one look at her he could tell something was wrong with all of this, but unfortunately he'd have to wait and see.

"Hello Natsu, and before you try and talk back to me I feel the need to tell you that this is only a recording." said Sarah with a sad smile slightly forming at the edges of her lips. And she was spot on about him trying to talk with her because as soon as she said hi to him he opened his mouth to speak, only for his mouth to snap shut after the last part.

"The next thing I need you to know is that none of this is your fault." she said only for a hand to come flying from off screen and hitting her hard on the side of her face.

"This is completely his fault, if he had just killed all of his opponents like I had asked him to, none of this would have been necessary. And the two of you could have continued on with whatever you want to call this secret relationship of yours that I knew about from the very beginning." spat out the voice of Brain as Sarah's head hung down as some blood slowly started to drip from her lower lip.

"I told you that I was never going to lie to him for you again." she stated in a soft voice that the camera barely picked up, but for Natsu it was literally the only thing he could hear at the moment as he glared at the screen in complete hatred.

He was shocked to then hear the laughter of Brain for the next whole minute as Sarah kept her head down so he couldn't see her face. "Indeed you did Sarah, and I should have known that you wouldn't change that in your final moments." he said in cheery tone that was completely wrong with what was happening on screen.

Natsu however went completely white after hearing what Brain just said, and his vision started to go red in rage. Silently pleading to whatever god that might hear him to please let him be wrong about what he feared might have already happened.

"Yes Natsu, by the time you've seen this I'll have already been dead for a while if I had to guess." said Sarah as her head tilted back up, letting him have one final look at a genuine smile of hers. "When I first started to work for the Bureau I believed that we were working towards making the world a better place. And that the Council always knew what they were doing, but after my time with you I no longer believed that." she continued to say while still smiling at him. At this point the guards thought it would probably be safer for them if they left him alone in his cell, which meant that none of would be quick enough to stop him after the video stopped.

"They claimed that you were going to become some sort of monster that would destroy the whole Wizarding world if we didn't stop you while you were still young." she said with a slight scowl coming over her face as she said it. "But after being with you for just a month I could tell that was a complete lie. And even after everything we did to you, you still didn't go about needlessly killing anyone that he told you to." she continued to say once again having a smile on display for him.

"No, you somehow still saw the value in all forms of life, even in those that only ever treated you poorly. So my final wish is that you don't let what you're about to see change that in you." she stated with a sad smile as tears started to come from both of her eyes. "We're not all like this, which I know is going to be hard for you to believe since all you've ever seen from the civilized world is the worst it has to offer. So once you make it out of this hell hole, which I know you'll eventually do, please see for yourself what else the world has to offer." she said before another hand came out of nowhere and started to hit her.

"You already showed me so much of that, just by treating me like I wasn't a monster." mumbled Natsu as tears freely streamed down his face that was now looking at the floor. He couldn't watch any more of the footage of her being mercilessly beaten, unfortunately he couldn't block out the sound so he didn't even have to look to know what she more than likely looked like. So for the next few minutes he was forced to listen to her being beaten to death, knowing that there was absolutely nothing he could do to prevent it.

"Natsu…" came the strained voice of Sarah after there being a slight lull in the video of her eventual death. "I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this. I can only imagine what the world would've been like if he hadn't gotten his dirty hands on you." she said before letting out a blood curdling scream that caused Natsu to once again look up at the screen just in time to watch the life fade out of her eyes.

That was the moment when he decided that he wasn't going to try and remain the mage that Igneel wanted him to be. Especially if the only person that was ever nice to him died because of it. Now that didn't mean he was going to completely disregard all of Igneel's teachings, no it meant he was no longer going to hold back on anyone that wronged him. So with that decision in mind he let out a final roar of anguish that could be heard from the highest level of the facility.

And the next thing he did shocked all of the guards that were watching him from the control room since it shouldn't have been possible. But there he was, spewing fire from his mouth that quickly melted away the shackles restraining his arms and legs. After which the screen went black, but not before they all got a glimpse of the deadly expression he currently had on his visage.

"What in the hell was that?" asked one of the two guards standing outside of his cell after the ringing in his ears stopped. But before his fellow guard could respond, both of the doors were blasted off their hinges and crashed into them which luckily protected them slightly from the fire billowing from the doorway.

The guard that spoke up first, slowly pushed the door off himself and blinked a few times as he tried to figure out what the hell was exactly going on. And what he saw right then he would later describe as what he imagined what hell was like, flames burning absolutely anything that was flammable and even starting to melt everything else that wasn't. But what really made him think that he was currently in hell was the figure completely engulfed in flames slowly walking over to his fellow guard that was still trying to get a door off himself.

He knew that it had to be Natsu inside of the flames, but with how strong they currently were he couldn't help but see the boy as some sort of demon. And seeing his red eyes only attributed to that thought of his, which was then reinforced as he watched a stream of fire spew from the boy's outstretched hand. Only for the flames to engulf his fellow guard that was still trapped and wasn't even able to let out a scream before he was reduced to nothing but ash.

"You're only alive because you are one of the few guards that never hurt me." came the deep and somewhat demonic voice of Natsu as he walked past the completely terrified guard. Who was too scared to even move and could only stand there and watch as Natsu slowly walked down the hallway to one of the guard's break rooms.

That unfortunately had noise canceling runes in it, otherwise the unsuspecting guards currently in there wouldn't be completely unprepared for what was heading their way. Which was an extremely pissed off dragon slayer that had more than a few scores to settle and wasn't going to leave this place until they were wrapped up. This meant that the guard currently in the hallway got to watch Natsu blew the door and some of the wall around it wide open. This was then followed by the boy going into it and screams of pain and complete terror soon following afterwards.

 **Inside the Control room:**

"Where in the fucking hell is Brain?" shouted out a scared shitless guard as more of the cameras were taken out as Natsu systematically went through the lowest level, eliminating any one that ever wronged him.

"He's not answering his communication lacrima either." replied a different guard.

"Then what exactly are we supposed to do?" asked another that was just as terrified as the rest of them.

"Lock the place down and activate all of the safety protocols we've got in place for such an occasion." answered one of the few guards not completely freaking out at the moment.

"So we're going to leave the rest of them down there with that monster?" asked the first guard with a horrified look coming over his face.

"Would you rather have him coming up here and doing that to us?" asked the guard that by default became the one calling all the shots.

"No, but we're pretty much condemning the rest of them to a terrible death." he replied back still looking conflicted by all of this.

"I don't like this any more than you do, but it's the best way to contain him. Destroy the elevator." commanded the leader of the group as one of the guards hurriedly booked it out of the room to do as he was told.

"What if that doesn't stop him?" asked one of the guards that had yet to speak up.

"Then we'll have to rely on some of the other safety protocols such as the gas that usually takes care of him." replied the now designated leader of their group. But just as he said this one of the cameras from the level right above Natsu's went out as a different one showed him slowly coming through the floor that he just destroyed.

"Oh dear god, he's literally just going through the floors!" screamed out a guard before bolting from the control room for his dear life.

"We should all get out of here while we still have a chance!" shouted out a different one as he and a few others followed after the guard that just fled.

"STOP!" shouted out probably the only guard currently thinking clearly somehow. "The facility has gone into complete lockdown so you won't be able to get out of here until the lockdown is lifted. Which unfortunately for us can only be done by our superiors who have either already fled for their lives or we won't be able to get into contact with in time." he explained with a serious expression.

"So what in the hell do you expect us to do?" asked one of the few remaining guards in the control room.

"The safest place is here, where we'll be able to activate any safety protocol that doesn't go off by itself." he replied while watching the screens with a keen eye as more of them went black.

 **Three hours later:**

The control room only had one guard in it and it was the one trying to get the rest of them to act reasonably this whole time. He was currently sitting in front of the monitors that have all been taken out for the last few minutes. But the thing that stood out the most about him was the fact that he somehow had a peaceful expression spread across his face as he slowly blew out a puff of smoke from the cigarette currently in his mouth.

"Took you long enough, and I'm a little curious as to why the gas no longer knocks you out." he said as a figure appeared in the doorway behind him.

"I was kind of a little busy dealing with the rest of those cowards. And I burnt it away before it could ever even enter my lungs." replied Natsu in that same voice that would cause most men to shiver in fear.

"Interesting and for some of those sorry blokes this was the only job that they could actually get." he stated with a dry chuckle at the end. "Something that probably doesn't shock you since you've been on the receiving end of their anger more than a few times. So I guess this is how my story ends, seems kind of fitting since I sat back and did nothing." he finished while slowly turning in the chair to look at Natsu, who he was surprised to see no longer covered in flames.

"No, you and a few others aren't going to die here today because you never did me any harm." stated Natsu as he turned away from the guard and headed towards the exit of the facility.

"But we just sat back and did nothing." he pointed out as Natsu continued to walk away from him.

"There really wasn't much that you could have done for me, just look at what happened to the one person that did." responded Natsu while still walking away from one of the few remaining guards. "But if you really do feel bad about everything that happened here, just make sure that next time you don't just sit back and watch." he finished before getting into a wide stance and blasting the exit wide open with a **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR**.

"Fine, but what should I tell the Council about all of this?" asked the guard before the dragon slayer could disappear from his view.

"You probably don't want to tell them that I'm even alive since I'm already supposed to be dead right now." he answered with a sad laugh. "Tell them that one of your experiments went wrong and caused a chain of explosions to go off, which won't be too hard for them to believe since the whole place is still on fire and might collapse any minute now." he said before continuing out into the snowstorm that was currently raging outside.

There were only seven survivors that day, which was also happened to be the last day Brain was considered an underling of the Council since this was the second time under his watch that the entire Bureau of Magical Development was destroyed. That day was also the start of a rumor about a mage that would eventually be known as Salamander, a fire mage like none before him.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. So at this time I'd like to apologize for taking such a long time to update not only this story, but also the rest of them. I could give all of you the reasons it took me so long to post new chapters, but it's just easier to say that life happened. With that taken care of I'd really like to know what you all think about where this story is heading, which you can do by either leaving a review or shooting me a PM. And if you do either of those two, I'll try to respond back as soon as I can.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	3. A Dragon on his own

Ch 3: A Dragon on his own

 **October 22nd, X778 in a clearing of the Worth Woodsea:**

In a clearing that just so happened to be the place that just over a year ago one of the world's strongest alliances was formed. And just like back then, all three heads of the alliance currently unknown as the Balam Alliance were gathered to discuss with one another. But this time they all felt a lot better since a certain dragon slayer wasn't prowling around, or at least that is what they hoped. That isn't to say that everything was good between these unlikely allies, it was far from it, which anyone could tell by the heated conversation that they were having at the moment.

"I honestly don't see why you're so upset." said Brain with a little chuckle as he looked away from the seething Hades.

"I'm upset because you fucked up!" shouted out Hades as he glared at the infuriating ex-Council employee.

"How so?" he asked back with an eyebrow raised in a mocking manner.

"Now you're just trying to piss me off." replied Hades as his magic started to flare up.

"Maybe I am Hades, or maybe I honestly don't think I messed up like you claim I did. Because as far as I can tell I did exactly as Acnologia told me to, the boy now has a strong hatred towards humans and escaped on his own." he stated now giving his fellow head of the Balam Alliance a smug grin. "And I'd also like to add that he killed quite a few people while doing it."

"That's good to hear." chimed in Mard Geer from his stump that he used last time they were all here.

"Yes, but that doesn't change the reason that I called the both of you here." said Hades as he pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm down. "After his escape there hasn't been a single trace of him, which as I'm sure the two of you can realize is a slight problem for us."

"Maybe for you it is." commented Brain as he gave him a wicked grin. And that would have most likely been Hades' snapping point if Mard Geer didn't step in between the two of them and start speaking the next second.

"That would definitely be a problem for Master Hades, and not only just him, but for the rest of us as well." stated the demon as he gave Brain a little smirk. "Acnologia has never been one to care who's at fault, he would more than likely just dispose of our entire little group and start a new one." he continued to say still with his smirk spread across his lips.

"And that's exactly why I organized this little meeting." said Hades with a sigh, glad that at least one of his Allies seemed to be a halfway intelligent being.

"So we can help clean up your mess?" asked Brain, with a crazed glint in his eyes as he locked them with his fellow human.

"Why you arrogant bastard." growled out Hades, once again getting ready to throw down with the white haired mage that was constantly getting on his nerves.

"Bring it on little Fairy." taunted Brain as he motioned for Hades to come at him.

"Enough, I thought that the whole purpose for our little Alliance was so that we weren't constantly at each other's throats? Well that and the other reason, but if I was wrong about the former than I might as well dispose of the two of you right now." said Mard Geer as he looked between the two humans.

"This time that monster isn't here; and all you brought along with you was a single woman!" he shouted back, clearly intent on starting something at this meeting of theirs.

"You know that numbers don't mean everything Brain." stated Hades as he shook his head at the foolish man.

"True, but they definitely help." he declared before lunging forward at the demon. But to his and Hades' shock he only made it a few steps before he completely stopped, as if frozen in time. "What in the hell did you just do to me?" he asked while looking at the demon with a stunned expression, since he knew that whatever was holding him back wasn't a magic spell he has ever encountered before.

"That my dear Brain is all thanks to my one associate with me." answered Mard Geer as he came up and patted him on the cheek. "It seems that you've already forgotten that there are more monsters out in the world other than just him. And some of us can be even more terrifying than him since we enjoy playing with our toys." he said as Brain turned around against his will and then fired off a beam of darkness into his own men. Who instead of jumping out of the way like any sane person would, just stood there like statues until they were eviscerated.

"But how?" asked Brain as he looked at his own hands in disbelief.

"Simple, you're nothing but mere insects to me and my kind. Something that I hope you will remember once we're done here, oh and I'm going to be the leader of our Alliance from now on." replied the demon as he went back to his stump. "Unless either of you think that you can take us on?" he asked as both of them raised their hands to their heads by themselves.

"I have no problems with that." replied Hades with a smile, seemingly unaffected by his body doing its own thing at the moment. Brain on the other hand looked livid, but after a few seconds he recomposed himself and once again had that smug grin of his.

"Neither do I." he replied.

"Good, you can release them now Seilah." said Mard Geer, only for the woman standing in the tree line behind him to nod her head and disappear into the forest surrounding them. "And as I was going to say before Brain decided to interrupt, just because there hasn't been any reports about a pink haired kid causing mayhem. That isn't to say he hasn't been in any of them, ones that more than likely deal with a fire breathing monster." he stated as the other two dark mages could finally move on their own.

"Do you realize how many of those there are?" asked Hades as he incredulously looked back at the demon.

"I'd have to assume a lot, which means you and the rest of your guild needs to get to work." he answered with a smile slowly spreading across his lips. "And it would seem that you need to look for more recruits Brain that is unless you decided to not bring all of them with you today."

"Of course I didn't bring my entire guild." spat out Brain as he sneered at Mard Geer.

"Well I think that covers what you were worried about Hades." he stated as he turned to the man he was addressing.

"It is, but it would really be appreciated if your guilds let mine know about anything that might be our missing dragon slayer." replied Hades as he turned away from the two of them and headed back to his Airship that was only a few hundred yards away.

"Mard Geer will be sure to let you know if we do." said the demon with an amused expression spread across his face. "Oh and remember you two, we're in an alliance so that means any other dark guild aligned with any of the other two is off limits." he said, having for the first time a serious expression.

"That won't be a problem for me and my guild at least." responded Hades before disappearing into the surrounding trees, only for a large airship to raise out of the trees a few seconds later.

"Despite what that old coot thinks, my guild will also not be a problem." stated Brain before somewhat sulking away.

"Make sure that both of you don't." said Mard Geer as he leaned back and looked up at the starry night sky.

"Why are we degrading ourselves with those puny vermin." asked a feminine voice as the hooded woman from before reappeared.

"Because Mard Geer is interested in this dragon slayer that has caught the eye of that monster." he replied as he continued to gaze up at the sky.

"That is another thing that doesn't make sense to me, why are we now taking orders from a dragon?" she asked in an upset tone that she failed at hiding from him.

"If you only knew what he was capable of, then you would also be doing as Mard Geer is. But this sounds more like Kyoka then you Seilah." he answered with a slight grin as the she demon became quiet. "Let's get back to work, Master is waiting for us to release him." he continued to say with a smile as he tenderly stroked the book in his hands.

"Once Master is reunited with us we'll no longer need to work with any of them." she whispered to herself as a huge smile made its way across her lips. With the departure of demons the clearing was once again completely desolate and void of life, making it beautiful in its own way.

 **November 3rd, X778 in a remote mountain range:**

"I didn't think it was going to be this bad." said the female that was leading a group of three through the mountain range, which was currently in the middle of a full blown blizzard.

"Onee-chan, I'm starting to get cold and hungry." shouted out the smallest of the three who was in the middle of the other two.

"I think we should probably look for somewhere to get out of the wind!" yelled the one in the back in a somewhat deeper tone than the previous two.

"Fine, but I can barely see anything with this darn snow." replied the first one as she quickly glanced over her shoulder at her siblings. Her two younger siblings smiled back at her, which only made the knot in her stomach constrict more than it already was. Neither of them did anything to deserve being run out of their village besides being related to her that is.

All she did was try to get rid of the demon that was terrorizing the rest of their neighbors that were there for them after their parents' death. And she did just that, well not exactly given that said demon now possessed her. At least that was what they were yelling at her as they chased her and her siblings out of town with pitchforks and torches. That she was fairly sure they would have used on her if her younger sister didn't defend her by blocking their path.

"I won't let either of you two die because of me." she mumbled to herself as she put her head down and continued to trudge through the snow that was progressively getting deeper.

"What about up there?" asked the little one as loud as she could while pointing up to the glowing mouth of a cave. The three weary travelers felt warmer just from looking up at the orange glow radiating from the cave entrance about one hundred yards above them.

"It looks warm." stated the male of the group.

"It does, but that isn't normal." replied the older girl as they all came to a stop and gazed up at the inviting cave entrance. She couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was responsible for the orange glow that was beckoning them in.

"Maybe it's some travelers like us that got caught in the storm." suggested the younger one as she looked back and forth between her older siblings.

"She might be right." said the male as he looked at his older sister with a slight smile.

"Fine." she relented with a sigh. After seeing both of her siblings shivering since the blizzard started an hour ago; they really didn't have any other option if they didn't want to freeze to death. But all of them started to second guess themselves as they got closer to the cave.

And that was thanks to the sounds of what they could only describe as monster smashing around in it and came echoing out. None the less, their need to warm up spurred the three of them to climb up to the mouth of the cave and peer in. What they saw right away shocked them; spread out near the entrance of the cave was a small camp with everything that a single traveler would need on a long journey.

"See, it's just another traveler." chirped the little one as she climbed into the cave before either of her siblings could stop her.

"Lisanna get back here!" hissed her older sister as she frantically looked around for the source of all that noise they heard earlier, which coincidentally stopped all of a sudden.

"But why, onee-chan?" Lisanna asked back with a slight pout, before turning around and taking a seat next to the campfire that was in the middle of the campsite.

"Because we don't know who's this is or what was causing all of that noise earlier." she hissed back, only for her mouth to drop open in shock as she watched her younger brother join Lisanna.

"You should warm up while we've got the chance onee-chan." stated the boy as he patted the spot in between him and Lisanna.

"Fine, but we're leaving as soon as the blizzard lets up." she declared as she climbed up to join them.

"Do you think they would mind if we ate that?" asked Lisanna as she pointed to the mysterious meat that was cooking on top of the roaring fire.

"Yes, and more importantly we're not thieves." she hissed back as she gave her younger sister a slight glare.

"But it's going to go to waste if we don't Mira-nee." pointed out their brother as he looked at the cooking meat with a little drool starting to form at the corners of his lips.

"I can't believe that I'm hearing that from you too Elfman!" Mira stated with a shocked look, which soon faded away as the aroma finally started to register with her now that she wasn't freezing anymore. "It does look really delicious and it would really be a shame for it to go to waste." she said after they sat there quietly for a few more minutes in silence.

"Yeah!" cheered Lisanna before getting up and pulling off a piece and handing it to her brother. She did this until each of them had a good piece, roughly the same size for each of them. "Let's eat!" she said before they all dug in like starved animals, which was only because the last time they had meat like this was when they were still at their old village.

And just like that the three of them were happily eating together, laughing and overall enjoying the slight reprieve they were currently having. It made them completely forget about what drove them into the mountains just a few days ago. They were sitting around the fire with small smiles, discussing what their next move was going to be when all of a sudden the fire flew further into the cave and disappeared.

"What was that?" asked Elfman in a terrified tone as he grabbed Lisanna and instinctively put her in between the two of them.

"I don't know." whispered Mira as she got to her knees and quickly tried to start the fire again. But each time that it looked like it was about to start again it was sucked further into the cave.

"I'm scared." mumbled Lisanna from in between the two of them.

"Let's get out of here." she suggested since she herself was starting to freak out. But as their little group started to make their way to the mouth of the cave, they were forced to a halt when a wall of fire sprung up to block their escape.

"You shouldn't eat someone else's food without checking with them first." came the voice of a boy from deeper within the cave. The three quickly twirled around, only for them to be met with nothing but darkness just a few feet away from them.

"We didn't want it to go to waste." stuttered out Elfman as he tried to find who the voice belonged to.

"So that means you can just take it?" asked the voice from the right side of the cave, causing all three of them to snap their heads in that direction.

"No it doesn't, but we were starving and freezing to death out there." stated Mira as she gestured to the mouth of the cave that was still blocked by fire.

"And why is that?" the voice now asked from the left side of the cave, which surprised the siblings at his speed and lack of noise as he did so.

"That's none of your business!" she shouted back at him, not wanting to relive what they went through only a few days earlier.

"You made it my business when you came into my home uninvited and started to eat my food." replied the voice in a deep growl that scared the three into wondering if they were even talking with a human. "So one of you better start talking soon, otherwise none of you will make it out of here alive." continued the voice in the same tone that terrified the siblings.

"We were chased out." blurted out Lisanna as she cowered behind both of her siblings.

"Why in the world would they do something like that?" he asked back in his normal voice, which caused the two older siblings to let out a sigh of relief.

"They did that because they're a bunch of ungrateful idiots." mumbled Elfman as a slight scowl came over his face.

"That doesn't really help me." stated the voice, once again coming from a new position that they didn't expect to hear him from.

"Onee-chan got rid of a demon for them!" replied Lisanna with a proud smile as she stepped out from behind the two of them and looked up at her sister. "But afterwards her arm changed and because of that they said she was possessed and tried to take us away from her. Some of them even tried to kill her." she finished with a sniffle and was on the brink of starting to cry. But before she could, she was enveloped in a tender hug by her older sister who started to try and calm her down.

Mira didn't really get to far with that before all three of them fell on their butts in sheer shock as a small explosion of fire went off just a few feet away from them. But to all of their surprise it gave them the briefest glimpse of the person they had been conversing with. And unless all of their eyes were playing tricks on them, it was a boy around Mira's age which was soon confirmed as he continued to rampage.

"Those ungrateful bastards!" he bellowed before lighting his fist on fire and smashing a bolder to pieces until all that remained of it was dust. "Why are they always so cruel?" he shouted out as he continued to destroy whatever he could get his hands on.

"Some of them were still nice." squeaked out Lisanna from her hiding spot behind Elfman.

"But I'm betting that there were more of them that weren't." stated the boy as he looked at them with both of his fists still on fire. This allowed them to see the snarl that he currently had, which also caused the siblings' attention to be drawn towards his menacing fangs.

"Yes, but they were just scared." she replied in a timid tone as she watched him turn away from them.

"That's one of the many things wrong with humans." he said more to himself than to his unexpected guests. "If they don't understand something or are even the slightest bit afraid of it, their first reaction is to try and kill it. Something that we have in common." he continued to say while now pacing in front of them.

"Someone tried to kill you?" asked Mira as she looked at the cloaked boy pacing back and forth.

"They were supposed to, but instead they did something much worse." he replied now with his back towards them.

"What could be worse than dying?" inquired Elfman with a confused expression.

"How about being experimented on for almost a full year?" he asked with a sad chuckle before continuing on. "And I'm not talking about your standard tests here, they beat me mercilessly just to figure out how much I could handle. Those were almost a daily occurrence, after which they would force me to train until I couldn't move anymore."

This caused the three siblings eyes to go wide as they looked at the boy, now feeling sorry for anyone having to go through something like that. Little did any of them know that it was only the beginning, since it seemed like he needed to vent his frustration and they were probably the only people he has seen in a long time.

"I could have easily handled all of that, but no, that bastard had to go even further!" he shouted out while going back to destroying anything that he could get his hands on.

"What did he do?" asked Mira, wanting to also know who he was referring to but decided that she could ask him about that later.

"He made me into a murderer!" he yelled before unleashing a stream of fire from his mouth that went hurtling into the cave until it disappeared. Needless to say Mira and her younger siblings were now even more terrified of the boy than they were before. But none of them even tried to sneak away, which they actually could have done since the fire blocking their path faded away during his last tantrum. Instead they all just stood there, waiting for him to calm down so that they could try and help him.

"You don't look like a murderer to me." stated Lisanna after the boy came back to them.

"Thanks, but I can tell that you're still afraid of me." he replied with a hint of venom in his tone.

"Well that's only because I don't know you yet." she replied with a smile as she stepped in front of her sister. Intent on showing the strange boy that everyone in the world wasn't as cruel as he thought they were, but Mira's hand prevented her from going more than two steps towards him.

"Thanks, but your sister is right to keep you away from me." he stated with a sad smile coming over the lower half of his face, which was the only part of him that they could clearly see. "Anyone that gets close to me has a funny way of disappearing or ending up dead." he said just loud enough for them to barely hear him. "You three are free to stay here as long as you want."

"We don't want to be a bother more than we already have." responded Mira as she continued to watch him carefully.

"You guys aren't really a bother at all." he said as he started to pack up a few things. "And just so you know Mira, you aren't possessed or anything like that. You're a mage and quite a strong one at that for someone our age." he said while giving her a small smile.

"I'm a mage?" she asked in disbelief as he gave her a quick nod. "And how did you know my name?" she asked now glaring at him.

"Elfman and Lisanna said it more than once while you guys were eating, which is also how I know their names as well. If you three continue to travel by yourselves that is something you should definitely work on. Along with not letting people know that you're a mage since that is why I was captured and experimented on." he answered while tossing a small bag over one shoulder and readjusting his cloak to cover himself better.

"Are you leaving?" asked Elfman as he looked back outside of the cave at the raging blizzard.

"Yep, I can only really stay in one place for as long as a week, otherwise they might figure out that I'm still alive and come after me." he said with a little grin as he headed towards the mouth of the cave.

"Who is after you?" asked Mira as she watched him walk past them.

"The Council, who you guys should definitely never trust. Actually if you three want to survive I wouldn't trust anyone since they are only going to let you down." he stated as he came to a stop at the entrance.

"Even Onee-chan and Elf-nii?" asked Lisanna as she looked at both of her siblings. Only to quickly look back at the boy as he started to openly laugh, with a laughter that made the three of them want to hear more of it. But just as soon as it appeared it soon faded away as he looked over his shoulder at them.

"Nope Lisanna, the only people that you can truly trust in this cruel world is your family." he answered before turning back away from them and heading into the blizzard.

"So are you saying we shouldn't trust you as well?" asked Mira as she watched him start to disappear into the snow storm.

"Definitely, I'm just some stranger that you accidentally ran into on top of a mountain." was his reply before he was gone. Leaving behind three slightly confused kids in a cozy cave that they soon realized had even more food and other supplies for the rest of their journey.

 **November 5th, X778, just outside of a small village:**

"So this is where they used to live." said Natsu to himself as he looked at the quaint little village positioned in the bottom of the valley.

"Why hello there." greeted an elderly farmer as he waved at the teen heading to the village.

"Hello Sir, do you happen to know how many people live down there?" he asked back while pointing to the village that was just starting to come to life as the sun started to rise.

"A few hundred if I had to guess, which is why it's odd to see a traveler in these parts." answered the elderly man as he looked down at the village with a fond smile.

"Well that will definitely make things easier for me." stated Natsu as a smirk slowly spread across his face.

"What's going to be easier for you my boy?" asked the farmer as he looked at the cloaked boy with a wary glance.

"Finding and getting rid of the trash that resides there." he replied as he started to walk down towards the village.

"But our village doesn't have a problem like that." stated the farmer with a confused expression.

"The trash that I'm going to be getting rid of likes to hide in plain sight. Actually that reminds me, did you happen to be part of the group that ran out three children a few days ago?" he asked as he came to a stop and slowly turned around to look at the now slightly nervous man.

"How in the world did you hear about that?" asked the elderly farmer as he started to back away from the boy coming towards him.

"It doesn't really matter how I found out, what matters is did you help chase out a family that only tried to help out this moronic village?" he asked again as both of his fists caught on fire, effectively scaring the shit out of the man he was questioning.

"I didn't have anything to do with that horrid business, I swear." stuttered out the elderly man as he didn't watch where he was going. And because of that he accidentally tripped over a root sticking out behind him, which caused him to watch as a stream of fire flew over him and completely obliterated the tree that caused him to fall.

"Good, because if you had then it would have been you that I hit instead of that tree." replied Natsu as he turned away from him and headed to the village. "Oh and if you value your life I wouldn't say anything about what is going to happen here today or go into town for a little while." he finished without even looking back at the terrified man that couldn't take his eyes off of the tree that was destroyed like it was nothing.

As Natsu casually walked through the streets he couldn't help but feel sorry for the three siblings. The village was actually quite nice and even welcoming to a stranger such as himself, but he knew that all of it was a lie. If it wasn't, then why would they have tried to kill Mira like they had a few days ago. Or settle with banishing her and her siblings over something as stupid as her hand changing since she didn't know how to control her magic just yet.

"Can you hear me boy?" asked a woman as she waved her hands in front of her face.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts there." he replied with a sheepish grin as he readjusted his hood.

"I was saying that a nice little family used to live in that house you were asking about. That is until their parents died and the oldest daughter turned into a monster." she continued to say as she shook her head in disgust.

"Do you actually believe that she was a monster?" he inquired as he got ready to listen carefully to her response.

"How could you not, her hand turned purple and had scales all over it. And that wasn't even the worst part, her fingers turned into razor sharp claws and she could manipulate her siblings into doing whatever she wanted them to." replied the lady as she clicked her tongue in disgust.

"I take it that your village doesn't have too many mages in it." he stated, causing the woman to look at him funny.

"And why would you say that?" she asked him back.

"Because if you had even a few, then you imbeciles would have realized that she was a Take-Over mage." he replied in a harsh tone that scared the woman for a second. That is until she remembered that she was only talking to a teen, who wasn't even from around here.

"What did you call me you little brat?" she asked while giving him her most intimidating glare that she could muster up.

"Wow you really are stupid." he answered, only to stop her hand before it even came close to striking him. "Did no one ever teach you that it's wrong to hit a kid?" he asked while looking up at her with a wicked little grin.

"Didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders?" she asked him back while trying to hide how much pain she was in only from his tight grip on her.

"I actually never met my real parents, or at least to my knowledge that is. The closest thing I ever had to one was Igneel and he taught me to respect those that are stronger than me." he said while heating up his hand currently holding her in place. "And you are definitely not one of them; actually I'm fairly certain that everyone in this puny little village of yours aren't even a challenge for me."

By this time she was now screaming out in pain, which caused a few of the other villagers to look at the two of them in concern. Concern that only grew after Natsu let the woman go and punched the man trying to sneak up on him in the face. This unfortunately was only the beginning for the man now clutching his broken nose as the dragon slayer glared down at him.

"So you guys think it's fun to chase out a group of kids just because one of them has a different looking arm." said Natsu as he placed a foot on the man's throat as he pulled up one of his arms. "Well I guess that means your time living in this village is now up." he said before summoning his flames in his other hand, that he then proceeded to send at the man's arm that he was still holding. It was at this point that most of the villagers ran off, possibly to try and go get help but for most they just took off for their own safety.

"Now I want you to go and round up everyone that took part in your little mob that so bravely faced off against those kids and bring them back here by the end of the day." he said while glaring at the girl he burned just moments ago. "Oh and if you decided to try and make a run for it I'll hunt you down before you make it a single step out of this shitty valley."

The lady was too scared to speak, so she quickly nodded her head before taking off into the village and disappearing behind the corner of a building. This meant that the dragon slayer was left all alone once again, something that he actually didn't mind since most situations that he wasn't ended with someone else being beaten almost to death by him. He had hoped that after escaping that god forsaken place that he could fit in with the rest of society, but that was quickly proven to be almost an impossible dream of his.

It wasn't that he couldn't act normal around other people; it just seemed that something about him brought about all sorts of crazy situations. The first town he entered and started to stay at was attacked by a group of bandits just a week later. And he was going to just sit back and let the bandits do as they pleased, but one of the morons decided to try and take the few things that he had started to accumulate. Of course he wasn't going to just sit back and let some weakling push him around like that, which lead to him taking on the whole gang all by himself.

He half expected the citizens of the town to praise him, but instead they were completely livid with him. Shouting at him, saying that he just doomed the whole town by standing up to those thugs since only more of them were going to come back next time. He didn't really understand right away, but after a girl around his age started to talk with him for a few minutes he figured it out. So he decided to permanently fix that problem for the town, which only took him the rest of the day to track down the rest of the gang and kill them so that they could never hurt anyone again.

But once again he was completely wrong about how the town would react to the news that he took care of the rest of the gang for them. They all looked at him as if he was some sort of monster, even the girl that had helped him understand their situation couldn't look at him. That was when Natsu decided he didn't belong in a city and would only visit them when he needed to resupply his stores. Even that didn't seem like it would work out for him, because almost every time he ventured into a town some sort of idiot would take notice of his odd hair color and try to start something with him. This is why he now always wears a cloak to hide his pink hair from the rest of the world.

These encounters varied from kids just making fun of him, to weirdos actually trying to capture him saying that they could sell him for a large sum of jewels. It just seemed as if fate itself was trying to make every moment of his existence a struggle for him. He knew that he was partially to blame for some of the situations that he would accidentally come across, but he couldn't help but be curious when his senses pick up on something that was off. And because of that he kept finding himself going up against humans that he deemed worthless, which he would easily dispose of. Only for those that he saved to look at him as if he was far worse than the ones he just saved them from.

"There he is!" shouted out a man at the front of a mob coming towards him as the sun started to set.

"Looks like you guys just made it in time." he stated with a sinister smirk on display for them. Making a quick mental note to never let himself get so wrapped up in his own thoughts like that again.

"Do you really think you can take all of us on by yourself boy?" yelled a different man from within the mob.

"Oh I don't think, I know I can take all of you on." he replied as he lifted up the body of the man he charred the arm of earlier in the day with just a single arm. "Unlike last time you all banded together, now you're facing a mage that can actually fight." he declared while tossing the man into the mob.

That was all he needed to do to get them to charge at him in an unorganized fashion, not that it would have helped if they weren't. Each thrust or jab sent at Natsu was so slow to him that he barely even had to try to dodge them, with him usually being able to disarm them in the process. This was one of the reasons he didn't like fighting against normal humans, they were just a joke for him and provided very little challenge. So with a tired sigh he decided to end this little charade of theirs, which he accomplished in just a few minutes.

"You aren't even worth my time." he said while spitting at the ground that now had people scattered all about it. All of them moaning in pain from either broken bones that the dragon slayer gave them, or a series of bruises and burns.

"Why?" grunted out one of the badly beaten people scattered across the ground.

"Why what?" he asked back with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Why are you even here?" asked a different person.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" he asked as his sinister grin returned to his lips and got nothing but moans of agony from the group. "I'm here to get rid of the human garbage that infests this little village of yours. Garbage that tried to murder a girl that took care of a demon for them." he stated as shocked looks came over all of their faces.

"But it looks like I need to be on my way." he said while gesturing to the setting sun behind him. This caused a few of them to let out sighs of relief, which they soon realized was premature when screams of agony started to ring out. And along with those screams they got to witness each member of their mob slowly be consumed one by one by a pillar of flames until none of them were left.

"You all proved to me that you had nothing of value left in you when you got together to kill a young and scared girl, which you probably would have done if her sister hadn't stepped in when she did." he said while looking at the charred bones scattered all around him. "At least now I know you can never harm anyone else ever again." he commented while heading out of the village without even sparing them a second glance.

 **December 18th, X778, in a random forest of Fiore:**

"Man, why did Master send me of all people to try and hunt down this rogue mage? Didn't he know that I was still in the middle of my hundred year quest?" asked an orange haired mage as he tossed aside his bag and slumped down to the ground with his back against a tree.

Just from one look at this man most people would assume that he's either a homeless man or a drifter due to his shabby cloak and overall unkempt appearance. But they couldn't be further from the truth, except for those that assumed he was a drifter that is, this man was none other than Gildarts Clive. A name that surprisingly isn't as well-known as one might think for someone at the level of Wizard Saint and ace of the country's most destructive guild.

"Although, now that I'm actually doing it I don't really know if any of the other members could handle something like this." he stated as he looked up into the tree he was sitting beneath. It was a full month ago when he got the urgent request from Makarov to take a break from his current job and completely focus on this new one. A job that is turning out to be a whole lot more difficult than he initially thought it would be.

The first thing that made it difficult for him was all of the different descriptions he got from the remaining villagers where the massacre took place. Some said the thing responsible for all of the killings was a fire demon that stood over ten feet tall with wings and horns. But Gildarts could easily tell that was a complete lie after looking over the scene that was still blocked off when he got there. Unfortunately the rest of descriptions about the rogue mage varied so much that the only thing he was fairly certain about was the person's height, which put the person just a few inches taller than Makarov.

In other words all Gildarts currently had to work with to find this mage was that whoever it was is short and extremely deadly with fire magic. Gildarts honestly would have given up on this mission if the Master hadn't stressed that it was of the utmost importance. When asking why the elderly guild Master could only say that he just had a feeling about it and that if they did nothing then countless more lives would be lost.

So with that in mind the orange haired crash mage doggedly followed any lead that might be traced back to a powerful fire mage. With his last lead sending him to this forest where the nearby inhabitants reported seeing huge geysers of fire erupting from the forest during the night for the past three days. If it turned out that this one didn't pan out either, he didn't really know what he'd do next. But as fate would have it, he had been on the rogue mage's trail the entire time.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"** rang out from nearby, which gave Gildarts just enough time to react and put up a defensive hand before he was consumed by a giant stream of fire. The stream continued on for a full minute before it finally died down, revealing that a large swath of the forest was now reduced to a smoldering wasteland.

"Damn, I don't think I've ever faced off against a fire mage as strong as you." said Gildarts with a smirk as he put down his arm. He expected to be facing off against someone at least his age since that initial attack actually singed his cloak a little bit. But instead of that all he could see was the devastation that was left in the rogue mage's wake and not a single trace of said person.

He knew that if the person was actually able to disappear that quickly he had very little chances of tracking them down in this forest. So the Crash mage decided to see if he could lure the person out and see if they could settle this peacefully. For some reason Master Makarov was confident that whoever attacked that little village had a very specific reason for attacking the people that he did. Because if they didn't, then why in the world didn't they decimate the rest of the village since it was clear that whoever did it easily could have if they wanted to.

"I hope you realize that you just missed your only opportunity to land a sneak attack on me." stated Gildarts as he slowly scanned the forest for any signs of his attacker.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S BLAST!"** shouted the unknown attacker from behind the older mage. But just like last time, Gildarts was able to counter the weaker stream of fire with just a single outstretched hand. This apparently surprised his attacker just long enough for the crash mage to get a glimpse of him. And what he saw shocked the veteran mage for more than just one reason.

The one responsible for the last two attacks was only a young teen, who he would roughly put at the age of fifteen. Although that wasn't what shocked him the most, no it was the teen's eyes which held the emotions of someone that has already been put through the wringer. But along with that he could also see a glimpse of fiery determination that looked as if it could never be put out.

"Wait!" he said while raising both of his hands in surrender only for the teen to disappear. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk." he continued to say as he once again went back to looking at the trees surrounding him. Gildarts couldn't help but be impressed with this young mage, not only was he extremely strong in the magical sense. But he also clearly worked on other things that most mages would tend to neglect, like physical training and other useful survival skills that apparently this kid was extremely skilled at.

"I've heard that lie before." came the voice of the male teen from within the cover of the trees.

"And I don't doubt that, no one can have that look in your eyes without being taught a few hard lessons." replied Gildarts only for a sad little chuckle to ring out from a different position than before.

"If only you knew." said the voice once again from a new location. "Now tell me why you've been tracking me for the past month?" asked the teen as he stepped into view of the older mage, but kept enough distance between the two of them so Gildarts couldn't get a good look at him.

"I was sent to deal with a rogue mage that killed over twenty innocent villagers a little over a month ago." he replied, and he was about to continue until a deep growl came from the teen that even sent a small shiver down his spine.

"Those bastards weren't innocent, and if they are considered that by whatever standards you people have then I'll have nothing to do with your kind." spat out the teen as both of his fists caught on fire and only continued to grow in size along with his anger.

"And what exactly did they do to deserve death?" asked Gildarts while still keeping his hands in the air and in clear sight of the boy.

"They were going to kill a girl just because she was a mage." he answered as he started to walk in a big circle around the Ace of Fairy Tail.

"But they didn't." replied Gildarts in a half question, wanting to make sure that they hadn't. Since if they did, then he honestly wouldn't lose any sleep over how the young teen dealt with them.

"No, instead they ran her and both of her two younger siblings out of their village. To fend for themselves, which was pretty much condemning all three of them to death instead of just one." stated the teen as he punched a tree only for it to fall over a second later. "So please tell me how any of those humans were innocent?"

"It sounds to me like it was all just a big misunderstanding." replied Gildarts as he took notice of the temperature steadily rising.

"One that would have resulted in three innocent children's death, if they hadn't been lucky enough to stumbled upon my cave in the middle of a blizzard. And just because it might be a misunderstanding doesn't excuse any of them for what they were about to do and what they actually did." he growled out as he glared at the older mage who wouldn't take his eyes off of him.

"That seems a little strict if you ask me." stated Gildarts before twirling out of the way of a flaming ball of fire.

"No it isn't, our world is nothing but a cruel place where only the strong survive. You can try and deny it all you want, heck even I tried to, but we both know that it's one of the few things that will never change." he declared with a sneer sent at the orange haired mage. "Which really isn't a problem for you considering how strong you are?"

"Yes I may be stronger than most, but I don't go around abusing that power." he said with a stern look sent back to the teen.

"And neither do I!" the teen shouted back. "All I've ever tried doing since I escaped that hell hole was try and have a normal life, but you humans won't let me. Even when I'm the one helping out and protecting others, I still get treated like a monster!" he shouted now looking even more upset than he was before.

"Why do you keep making it sound like you're not human, and what place did you escape from?" he inquired with an inquisitive expression coming over his face.

"I'm not, or at least not anymore." replied the teen in a sad tone. "And it's none of your business old man, so are we going to fight or what?" he shouted out while getting into a fighting stance and glaring at the man across from him.

"I'm not going to fight you kid. I can tell that you actually believe what you did back there was okay, and if what you just told me was true then it very well could be. And from our little conversation so far, I can tell that you've already had a very tough life that I'm guessing most wouldn't have lived through." answered Gildarts as a warm smile spread across his face.

"So then what are you going to do? Weren't you supposed to deal with me?" he asked as he came to a stop in front of the man, yet still a few yards away from him.

"That's a pretty good question." replied Gildarts as he started to rub his chin in thought, causing the teen to look at him with a look of complete disbelief. "I'll probably say something like I accidentally reduced the poor chap into nothing but a fine dust. Wouldn't be the first time that something like that happened for me." said the Fairy Tail mage with a little chuckle.

"So you're just going to let me go?" asked the teen, finding it really hard to believe that he'd be let off the hook that easily.

"Yep, but before you take off I'd like to have a few more words with you." he answered, causing the teen to look at him skeptically. "First off I'd like to offer you a place at the guild I belong to, I'm positive that you'd fit right in and could even make friends with some of the other kids your age."

"What's a guild?" asked the teen, obviously interested but was still hesitant around the mage that had been following him for a while now.

"Wow, where in the world have you been kid?" asked the crash mage with a big grin. Unfortunately he soon lost that grin after he took in the teen's expression, which was one of someone very conflicted. On one hand it looked like he had a few memories that brought a smile to his face, but it also seemed that he had more than enough terrible ones to prevent him from ever really having a full smile.

"My father and I lived out in the wild where everything was simpler, after that, let's just say I'm lucky to still be alive." answered the teen with a prominent frown.

"Oh… Well a guild is where mages gather together to go on jobs and practice their magic to get stronger. It's also a place that you can call your home, that's at least what Fairy Tail is for me which is the Guild that I belong to. And as I said earlier, there are a few kids that I think are around your age that you could become friends with." he said with a slight smile coming over his face towards the end.

"I'm able to get stronger on my own out here." stated the teen as he gestured to the wilderness surrounding the two of them. "As for making friends my own age, that hasn't really gone too well for me in the past and I don't really see that changing anytime soon." he continued to say, and was going to say more but was quickly cut off by the only person in a one mile radius of him.

"And why in the world do you think that? From what I've seen you'd fit right in with all of the other rowdy kids at my guild." asked Gildarts as he plopped down onto the ground and got into a comfortable sitting position.

"No one my age can keep up with me, and they always make fun of my appearance." answered the teen through clenched teeth.

"I can definitely believe that most kids your age wouldn't be able to keep up with you, but I'm also guessing that none of them were mages." he said with an eyebrow raised at the teen.

"Some of them were, and they were just like the rest of the mages that they sent to fight me to the death. Weak and unfortunate that they had to go up against me." replied the teen, not even realizing that he was once again giving the man more information about his troubling past then he probably should.

"That won't happen at Fairy Tail, and you look like most teens I see during my travels." he stated, only to realize that he has yet to see the teen's actual face. The only thing he's actually seen of the boy's face was his lower half, and his eyes that seemed to glow from underneath his cloak's hood.

"No I don't, and all of this could just be some sort of trap!" accused the teen as he cautiously took a few steps back.

"It isn't kid, but I can tell you've got a pretty good reason not to just take my word for it. Unfortunately I don't really have any other way of proving that to you, so I guess all I can say is that my offer will always be there for you. All you have to do is head to the city of Magnolia and tell that old geezer that I sent you and you'll be a member before you know it." said Gildarts as he got back up and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Are you leaving?" asked the teen as the crash mage turned away from him and headed into the trees.

"Yep, I've got a job to get back to." he replied with a quick wave over his shoulder. "Actually kid, what's your name if you don't mind telling me?" he asked as he came to a stop and looked back over his shoulder.

"And why should I tell you that?" the teen yelled back as he glared at the older mage.

"Because it's only natural for friends to know each other's names, mine's Gildarts by the way. But if you don't want to tell me yours it's fine, I'll just keep calling you kid." he said before he started to walk away again.

"It's Natsu." mumbled out the teen as he looked down at his feet. Wondering if he was being too harsh on the man, because it honestly seemed like he was only trying to help him out.

"Well Natsu, next time we run into each other we'll have to have a real fight. I would love to have one with you right now, but as you are right now it really wouldn't be much of a challenge for me." stated the crash mage in cheery tone that caused the dragon slayer to start seething in rage.

"Is that so Old Man!" he shouted out as he started to gather a large amount of his flames between his hands. But rather than getting a response from the Fairy Tail mage, he watched as the man continued to walk away from him while starting up a cheery whistle. " **FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!** " bellowed Natsu as he hurled a huge ball of fire at the back of the man's head.

Natsu expected to finally land an attack on the infuriating man, but just like the earlier two attacks of his it was stopped by him just raising a single hand in defense.

"I don't know why you're hiding that pink hair of yours Natsu, it's kind of cute." stated the Ace of Fairy Tail before bursting into laughter as he continued on his way. Leaving behind an embarrassed dragon slayer that wanted nothing more than to beat the living shit out of him, but both of them knew that he had a long way to go before he would even be close to accomplishing something like that.

 **End of Chapter!**

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. I could add Ultear's part, but I thought that I might as well leave that in the next chapter since it will transition into his time at Grimoire Heart.**


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